The Silent Swordsman
by cjanimal
Summary: The story of four friends, a silent swordsman, a bunny mage, an arrogant rifleman, and an easygoing sniper.
1. Chapter 1

**The Silent Swordsman**

**The story of four friends, a silent swordsman, a bunny mage, an arrogant rifleman, and an easygoing sniper. **

**Hey, if you're reading this it means I somehow magically convinced you to look past that shitty title and that shitty summary to actually read this. The title and the summary both are a work in progress and are subject to change as I get further into this story. **

**So… ah... yeah a little background info first; I began writing this fic shortly after the end of the first season, only recently getting the courage to actually type it up, so things such as Velvets armor, character backgrounds, etc. may differ from canon works revealed in future seasons. This is my first fic so any advice or criticism, be it good or bad, is greatly appreciated. Also Ideas for how the fic should develop in the future are also welcome.**

_**Italics – indicates written words**_

**Prologue**

"Looks like it's gonna rain"

"Hmm"

"I said looks like it gonna rain"

"Hmm"

"Hey Carol, are you even listening to me"

"What.. I mean…"

"I'm mean seriously, what with those huge fox ears you got I would expect you to actually be able to hear everything."

The fox girl stood up from the table by the store window, now ignoring the graying clouds that mere hours earlier were white as the apron she wore over her work clothes.

"No I was just thinking about stuff."

"Would this stuff perhaps deal with a certain Richard who likes to frequent the cafe"

Carol's face quickly turned a deep shade of crimson as she attempted to stutter out a response.

"W-what no I wasn't, I was just thinking about… ah... so what was it you were saying before Ann?" attempting to change the subject

Luckily for her Ann took the bait. "I was saying it looks like it's gonna rain. Not particularly good for me considering I didn't bring my umbrella."

"Yeah, well it's not like anybody expected it, the clouds defiantly weren't that grey when we first arrived."

RING-RING

"Looks like we got a customer Carol, how about I take…"Ann stopped as she looked past the other girl. "Actually just remembered Morgan asked me to reorganize the pantry. Can you handle him?"

Ann turned before Carol could respond, disappearing into the kitchen presumably to handle the pantry. The fox girl started to greet the newcomer as she turned. "Welcome to Cherry Blossom Café, how can I…"

The girl stopped as she noticed the newcomer wasn't one of the customers that would frequent the café, for that matter he wasn't someone that would be seen anywhere near any of the local business let alone able to partake in it.

The boy that stood in front of her was maybe 16 of 17 and was obviously one of the street rats that populated the frontier town's alleys at night. He wore a ratty dark blue sweatshirt at least two sizes to large, the words on the front too faded to be legible. He carried what looked to be the local newspaper under one arm. His jeans and shoes were no better than his shirt; the once blue jeans he wore were faded almost too white in some places. On one of the knees there was a large patch, how the boy was even able to afford thread and needle she wasn't sure. "Probably stole it" She mumbled under her breath.

As she scrutinized the vagrant he merely gave her a short nod of his head and walked to the corner of the café, slipping into a seat by the window.

As she approached the boy she was surprised to discover his smell was not the abhorrent smell that she had come to know from the dumpsters behind the café, given her faunas abilities she had expected to be able to pick up even the faintest of garbage from the boy, here she could only ascertain the faint smell of peaches wafting form the boy's skin and the smell of lavender from his clothes. But given the surprisingly clean state of the homeless boys clothes only one conclusion could come, he must have been to Mr. Laredo's Dry Cleaners. The man always had a soft spot for the 'less fortunate', as he called them, always willing to run them through his cleaners and give them a shower if they ever needed it.

"What can I get for you" not even caring to hide the contempt she had for the boy from her voice.

The boy picked up a pad of paper handing it to the waitress. She took it hesitantly, not sure why he would give her something. Looking down to the pad she noticed he had written something down

_I would like a sandwich and a glass of ice water please._

"Do you have the money to pay for this?" once again choose not to hide her contempt nor even her doubt from her voice.

He held out his hand, expecting her to return the pad she assumed, upon its return he immediately wrote a few words down before reaching into his jean's pocket, extracting a wad of lien he placed it back on the pad before giving it to her once again.

Moving the bills aside she read the words that had been written.

_I believe this should be enough._

Quickly counting the bills before vocalizing a grunt of disbelief "This should be enough, your food will be ready soon." The fox girl turned practically running to the kitchen, wanting to give a stern talking to her friend.

She was surprised to find her coworker actually in the pantry doing the work as she described. She walked up behind her gripping her shoulder in an attempt to turn the girl around her actions earning her a pleasant squeak of surprise. "Damn it Carol, you scared me"

"The hell with you being scared, you left me with the man. I thought you were my friend, but you just abandoned me in my time of need."

"Oh don't be so dramatic Carol, talking to the homeless isn't going to kill you. And besides Morgan did actually ask me to do this so I didn't abandon you, at least not without reason." She grinned with a slight giggle as she spoke the last words.

At her words Carol threw her arms up in a dramatic fashion" You don't know that, he could have robbed me or tried to kill me, that's to be expected from those vagrants."

"Come now Carol, if any of them were that bad don't you think the Guards would have dealt with them by now, and besides there hasn't ever been a recorded murder in this town." She paused for a moment as a though entered her head "That of course doesn't count the occasional Grimm attack but attacks today are miniscule compared to the early days of when Manning was first founded."

"That's not the point, you …"

RING-RING

"Looks like we got customers Carol. Best you take care of them; I still have this pantry to take care of." The girl grinned, obviously enjoying how annoyed her friend was at her actions." Well, run along now little doggie"

"I'm a Fox" Carol stamped her foot in protest but ultimately choose not to argue any further choosing rather to turn to leave but not before grabbing the required sandwich and ice water. Stepping out of the kitchen. "I'll be just a moment."

The new customers wore the local guard uniform, with their weapons strapped to their waists or in the larger man's case his weapon was leaning against the table, the hammer too large to comfortably hang at his waist.

"Here's your order" the boy merely nodded in thanks before grabbing his meal. The fox girl then turned approaching the guards seated at the table before her. "So what can I get for you today?"

The large man, the leader by the way the other two took deference to him, paused giving the girl a once over stopping at the top of her head before he spoke. "For one you can give us a proper waitress."

"Excuse me?"

"I said I don't want to be served by some animal, we don't want some fucking animal hair in our meals now do we boys." The man threw his arms out to the side and looked to the other two men with expectant looks. The blonde to his left responded, "Of course not Mason, I remember what happened last time, took a week to get that dirty Faunus blood out of our uniforms. Fucking animal just wouldn't listen to orders. But what can you expect when an animal has been properly broken in?" the last few words ended with him giving lecherous looks to her chest.

"I… I… well… um can I take your o-order please?" Carol nervously stuttered, the fear evident in her voice. Wringing her hands she could only hope the men would jump up and laugh explaining it was all just a cruel joke. But she could tell that for all her hope she was lost, while anti-Faunus sentiment was rare in Manning it was not unheard of. But to think that it would come from their supposed protectors.

The leader once again spoke, anger creeping into his voice, "Hey you fucking bitch, I said I want a proper waitress, leave and get us the blonde bitch we saw earlier."

"W-well… I'll just g-go get her then…" Carol stiffly turned, relieved that she was given a chance to escape from these men. But before she could take another step she felt a rough hand grasp her arm and violently yank her back.

"Just because she's an animal, doesn't mean we can't have a little fun before lunch, right boss." The blond gave his leader a knowing look, his lust evident by the look in his eyes, by the way he continued to stare at her chest as attempted force his hand.

"Please… Let me go." She pleaded to the blond man as his grip only tightened.

"Now how about we have a little fun together… the fuck?" the blonde man raised his other hand slowly moving to grasp her bosom but stopped when the sound of a chair being roughly pushed back was heard from the corner of the restaurant. The three men turned to look to see the homeless boy approaching the group, the pad in his hand.

He stopped before the men, pausing to look at each of the three individually before placing the pad in the air before the leader, waiting expectantly.

"The fuck is this?" Mason looked at the boy with a vexed look.

The boy merely responded with a stare and maintained his position. The leader grabbed the pad, if only to convince the boy to leave them to have their fun. He looked down, inspecting the pad; his mood quickly changing from annoyance to rage.

_Apologize to the girl, then leave. You're not welcome here._

"You fucking prick. I suggest you leave well enough alone before I run you in for vagrancy. Now fuck off." The man then flippantly tossed the pad back to the boy, it hitting him in the chest falling to the ground. Mason turned moving to voice his encouragement for his blonde friend before he saw a blur in the direction of the vagrant. The next thing he felt was the coldness of 12 inches of hard steal against his throat. The man's eyes widened in surprise; barely choking out a response in fear. "Now boy, don't be doing anything you might be regretin." The silent boy had moved so fast that the man's companions had not yet realized the danger their leader was now in. Confused by their leader's strange statement the man with the scar turned to see his leader taken hostage, he rushed from his seat the chair loudly falling back the noise startling enough that the blonde man turned to witness the events, although much to her dismay, it was not enough to get the blonde man to release her.

The scarred man drew his blade but made no move to stop the boy. "Release him now or I will run you through." The boy answered by moving the blade, pricking the large man's neck, a few drops of blood falling from the wound. The large man coolly warned off his friend, "Arthur… how about we don't make the boy nervous."

Arthur lowered his blade, but kept it ready in case he needed to use it. "Then what do we do…"

"First of all, Benny, you're going to apologize to the kind lass for how you treated her."

"What! I'll do no such thing! I'm not gonna let some runt threaten me away from my fun." Benny stood up, maintaining his grip on the Faunus girl he drew a dirk from his side." I'm gonna kill this fucking piece of trash, after that I'm gonna take this bitch behind the counter and…"

"Benny!" The leader shouted at the blonde man, the movement causing the blade to cut into his flesh but he choose to ignore the pain. "So help me if you don't do as I say right now you will come to regret it."

Even with a blade at his throat his intimidation seemed to waft out towards his compatriots as they cowered in response. The scarred man coughed drawing their attention, "All right boss, what do you want us to do."

"As I said, Benny you're going to apologize to the nice lass."

"But…"

"Now Benny!"

Benny violently pushed the girl aside and away from him nearly causing her to fall over a nearby chair. The girl was lucky enough to catch herself before then. She looked to her aching wrist, the already darkening skin already showing evidence of a coming bruise.

He spat out the next words as if each word made him physically sick, "I apologize for what I did, it was inexcusable."

The leader looked on with relief as he spoke his next order. "Now Arthur you're going to pick up my hammer then leave the store with Benny."

"What about you Boss?"

"I'll be fine, as soon as you are gone and a good distance away I'm sure the boy will release me. We'll meet up back at the barracks, understood."

"Of course boss." The two subordinates hurried out of the café, careful to stay clear of the boy and his hostage.

Minutes passed as the two waited, the blade never leaving the man's throat, never relaxing from its vigilance. The Fox girl stood across form the two, unsure whether to call for Ann's help or to perhaps help the boy, but fear got the better of her as she stood silent as no one spoke.

"I think it's been long enough." The boy agreed with the man nodding in response, although from the man's position he wouldn't be able to see the movement. The blade was removed from its position against the violent man's throat and the boy quickly moved back away from the now free man.

The man didn't respond as Carol expected him to. She had expected him to jump up and rush the boy, using his superior size and strength to beat the boy to death. But instead he calmly stood up, turned, nodded to the boy, and then left the store. She watched the man leave, unwilling to look away fearing that this was all a ruse, that looking away would cause them all to return and do the horrible things they had implied. It was only when the door had closed behind the guard did she finally released the breath she had not realized she had been holding. Looking over to the homeless boy she noticed that he had also been watching the guard leave but had now turned to return to his table. He quietly placed the pad of paper down on the table; he must have picked it up when the man was leaving.

But incredulously the boy seemed to act as in nothing had accrued. He took a bite of his sandwich then reopened the newspaper he had brought with him. She approached him, standing nervously at his side unsure what to do. "Excuse me?"

The boy's head turned. He stared at her, his face expressionless any emotions he may feel at the moment were hidden behind the visage. "Umm… thank you for helping me."

The boy nodded in response then returned his attention to his newspaper.

"Hey Carol I finished up the pantry, you need any help." Ann yelled to her friend as she walked out of the kitchen." Hey, wait a minute. Wasn't there another customer in here? You didn't scare them off now did you?" the blonde girl giggled out the last sentence not realizing the torment her friend had been through mere minutes before.

Rather than barking out an insult at the girl as she would under normal circumstances she rushed up to her gathering up in hug. "Hey Carol? What's wrong? Did that bum say something to you?"

"No, it fine. He didn't do anything. I'll explain later."

The boy continued to read from his paper, an article about the coming mayoral election was prominent on the page in front of him. But he paid little attention to the content, it would be another year before he would be allowed to vote and even then he doubted they would even let him. Outside of Mr. Laredo few people in the town cared for the opinion or well being of the homeless populace. In fact, the local government had chosen to brand the entire homeless population as thieves and criminals, not to say that many weren't as such but not all were like that and even those that did only did so to survive. He looked up upon hearing a tapping against the window beside him. Tiny water droplets fell against the window. The vagrant stood up hoping that he would be able to claim on of the covered benches in the park for the night, perhaps he might be able to stay dry for this night.

He left the café, lifting the hood of his sweatshirt to cover his head but it did little to help as the falling rain began to soak through his clothing. He ran through the now dark alleyways, avoiding the obstacles through years of memories of traversing the lonely walkways. He ran out emerging out onto the road to the park quickly turning in hope of claiming his reward.

Instead he was met with a hammer rushing towards his face.

The boy rolled forward barely dodging the heavy weapon. He landed in a muddle of murky water and mud.

"That was a foolish thing you did there back in the café boy." The giant of a man hefted his hammer onto his shoulder as he sauntered forward, his two lackeys following close behind.

The rain was now coming down with a roar; any person that may have been out was now gone, seeking shelter in their warm homes. There they were safe, but with no witnesses it left the boy with no protection from the men he wronged.

He drew his dagger and a second one appear in his other hand, he bent his knees preparing to jump aside when they struck.

Mason approached the boy straight on, slowly and steadily. His underlings took a more wide approach in an attempt to come from the sides and prevent his escape. The wet boy considered running now but thought better of it. To leave now would only delay the inevitable, they would find him and they would kill him. Better to end it now.

Benny jumped forward his dirk thrusting towards the boy's stomach. He skipped back only to encounter Arthur's sword swing down towards his head. Shifting his dagger along his wrist he blocked the blade, the force of the blow forcing him to his. The boy thrust his dagger forward hoping to hit a lucky blow against the swordsman but an approaching hammer forced him to once again roll away.

"You can't win boy, its three against one. You're only delaying the inevitable, just lie down and DIE!" Mason shouted the last words as he swung the hammer and once again the boy skipped but this time forward. Not expecting the change in tactics he was unprepared for when the boy ducked under the shaft and moved forward thrusting the blade into the giant man's thigh, then running passing the injured man before turning reentering his stance.

"You son of a bitch! I'm gonna kill you!" Mason fell to his knees clutching the now previously bleeding wound.

"You okay Boss?"

"The fuck you think?! Get him!"

The two standing guards rushed forward at their commander's orders. Arthur screamed out as he swung his blade across the boy. He once again ducked under the blade kneeing the man in his stomach.

The fighting felt natural to him, after years of oppression by the local guards the street urchins may final send a message that their treatment was not just, that it would not be tolerated. But his moment ended when he felt a fist connect with his jaw. He fell to the side straight into one of the many puddles forming on the street.

"What! You think you can do the same thing over and over again and we won't adapt to it! You smug bastard!" Benny screamed at the fallen boy. Crouching next to the motionless boy he thrust his hand forward gripping the boy's hair pulling him up to look into his eyes. "I'm going to kill you boy. But I won't do it quickly, I'm gonna take it slow. Really enjoy it." The man smirked at he rammed the boys head into the pavement. "And once I'm done with you I'm gonna find that dirty bitch and have some real fun with her. She's gonna wish you never saved her, because what I'm gonna do now is much worse than what I was gonna do back in the café."

The boy's vision was clouding, he could barely see through the darkness but he heard what he said. The thought of this disgusting man forcing himself on the innocent girl made the bile rise in his throat. He could not allow that to. He desperately searched for one of the daggers he lost when he fell as Benny once again rammed his head into the ground holding it in the puddle.

Panic rose in him as his air dissipated with the blade still not found. But as the man pulled his head up once again he felt his hand to a cylindrical object in the water. Desperately hoping the he found his lost weapon he thrust the object forward with what little strength he had left.

Till the end of his days the boy would wish to never hear again what came from the man's lungs next. The bloodcurdling scream pierced his ears as the man reared back in pain holding the hilt of the dagger now nestled in his groin.

"Shit, Shit, Shit. Benny! NO!" Arthur now recovered rushed forward to assist his friend not realizing the true extent of the friend's injuries. "You're dead!"

The almost hysterical man swung his sword at the boy, who then jumped towards the man holding his crotch. He grabbed the blade, tearing it from the man's flesh. But instead of pursing the vagrant the swordsman knelt next to his friend inspecting his injuries. His eyes widen in horror as he realized the extent of the man's wounds. "Fuck! We need to get you to the Doc! Boss! Help!"

Mason was barely standing leaning heavily on his hammer. "Go on without me! Get him to Doc, I'll only slow you down in my condition." He stumbled forward almost falling on the wet ground.

"But…"

"I said GO! A wound from that little toothpick isn't going to kill me. Now GO!"

Arthur threw his wounded friend over his shoulder. Rushing down the street the two disappeared into the rain.

"We ain't finished here boy. If Benny dies I will find you. And I will kill you."

The silent boy stared back at the man as he limped after his two friends.

The street was then silent; the only sounds were of the rain steadily falling to the ground and the panting of his own breath.

"Oh ho ho. That was quite the display of athleticism now wasn't it my boy!"

The boy stumbled as he turned towards this new voice, fearing that it was another guard here to finish what the other three started. A large heavy-set man emerged from the nearby alleyway. He looked to be in his 40s or 50s with a large greying mustache that seemed to cover half his face.

The boy dropped his dagger, his arms hanging limp at his sides. He no longer had the strength to fight this newcomer. He barely had the strength to stand as this man approached.

"What's you name my boy? Not speaking are we? Well then I can talk for the both of us. My name is Professor Peter Port All Powerful Hunter, Killer of Grim, Slayer of Beast, and… are you okay there now?"

The boy stumbled forward straight into the approaching man's arms. "It looks like the fight took more out of you than I thought, well if was me I would have… well I guess that's not important now. Best find you a doctor, not the same one those ruffians went to that is."

The teacher set the boy down on the ground, retrieving the fallen daggers from the red tinged puddles. Once again he picked up the boy saying something to him. But the words only seem to come out as mumbles to the boy as he finally slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

He awoke to find himself warm and dry, how it was possible he wasn't quite sure. He opened his eyes to see himself lying down in a bed in a lighted room. There was a window to his left with a door opposite where he could see the heavy set man from before talking to a man in a white coat. His head felt like it was on fire and he moaned in pain as he attempted to remove himself from the bed. The professor turned at the sound and entered the room.

"It's best you don't move now. Those hits to your head gave you a concussion. Best that you rest now, those men won't come for you while I'm here."

The boy looked at the strange man; no one had ever treated him this kindly. At least, not for the past eight years or so. Most treated him and those like him as a burden or a charity case, something to make themselves feel good about themselves. Only doing small gestures but nothing big enough to enact permanent change. Any member of this town would have left him to rot, but this man took him to a hospital. He must have paid the doctors or they never would have treated him. So that led to the question as to why this man helped him. But instead of voicing his concerns he just now realized something. Frantically looking for his belongings his weapons, his pad, even the pen would have be enough.

"Are you looking for your things? I have them here, your can have them back as soon as you're all healed up." But the man scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion as the boy in front of him desperately moved his finger across his own hand. "Are you looking for something? Writing? You're looking for something to write with?"

The boy nodded at that last answer.

"Give me just a moment. I think I saw something like that in your belongings." Reaching into a bag on t a nearby table he extracted the homeless boy's pad, only to reveal that it was not completely soaked and warped. He wouldn't be able to write on it. "Give me just a moment and I'll return with your writing utensils in just a jiffy.

The professor left the room returning shortly with a new pen and paper. He handed the boy the objects waiting for him to respond.

_Why did you help me?_

He laughed as he spoke "Why you beat three against one, a warrior should be able to bask in his glory."

_But I'm a nobody. No one helps a street rat._

He face grew stern as he read the words "Now my boy, under no circumstance are you to call yourself a street rat. Or for that matter any version of the word. No street rat could fight that well, even against guards that pathetic."

He paused a moment before a realization hit him "You're mute aren't your?"

The boy responded with a nod.

"May I ask your name?"

_Kemos Shepard_

"An interesting name… how would you like to attend Beacon"

Kemos stared at the man, seconds passed by as the two men looked each other in the eye neither making a move.

_Excuse me? What?_

"I said how would you like attend Beacon Academy?" the man looked at the younger man expectantly as if the decision had already been made.

_What, do you mean like a school?_

"A school to train Hunters to be exact. We would train you to fight the Grimm."

The younger man looked to the older one with an exasperated look.

_You can stop this joke. It's not funny. I have neither the funds not the aptitude to attend such a place._

The professor's laugh was beginning to annoy the teenager "Well if that fight you had with those guards was in indication you have the potential to become a hunter, you would of course need to take some training to prepare you for such an endeavor."

_Wouldn't be able to afford the training._

"That's what scholarships are for my boy!" the teacher had a shit eating grin on his face, he seemed to think he had already won this argument.

_Then where Am I supposed to stay while at school, or for that where would I stay during the off season, I suppose you're just going to throw me back on the streets are you?_

"Of course not. We have dorms on campus for the students and as for when classes are not in session…" He paused for a second stroking his mustache as he thought, "Ah, I know. Why not stay with me then. I could use that time to train you, prepare you for classes. Besides it would be nice to have some young blood in my life again. I may be able to ride a Nevermore strait into the sunset but that doesn't mean my back won't ache afterwards" Port laughed jollily at his own joke.

The boy had a dumbfounded look on his face. He had gone from having the shit beating out of him in the street to some man claiming to be a professor offering him a place at a prestigious academy, but not just that but for it all the be free.

_You're serious aren't you? Because I won't forgive you if this is some cruel joke._

"Then I take your answer as a yes then. We'll have a lot to prepare for if you're going to make it at Beacon. Your weapons for one."

_My weapons?_

"Yes, your stance was good but by the look of it you would be more comfortable with some larger swords. We can speak to a friend of mine; he's a good blacksmith, get you paired up with a nice set of short swords."

Kemos looked at port with an incredulous look, but slowly a small smile graced his lips.

_When do we start?_

Port smiled his lips matching then exceeding the smile of the younger man, "As soon as you're healed"

**First of all thanks for reading, I hoped you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. It was tough but I think it was worth it. Now a few notes while Kemos is spelled with an "e" it's actually pronounced Kay-mos, but I can't force you to say it so what have you. As for when the next chapter is going to be released I'm planning on trying to get a chapter out once a week, but with how busy I am with classes and life and such some may be delayed. But here hoping their not.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Just a quick note, I went back to the last chapter to fix grammar and spelling mistakes. I also added the occasional descriptive words and adjectives to make it more clear but for the few followers I got it's not necessary to the plot to go back and read, no new content was added.**

_**Italics – indicates written words**_

* * *

_4 Months Later_

The large air ship rose from the tarmac while two Bullheads lifted up ahead of it, presumably to fly escort for the craft. Within the cabin a voice could be heard from the speakers above.

"Attention passengers, as that we have now reached a steady altitude the observation decks are now open and you may now leave your seats. We will be reaching Beacon in approximately 30 minutes."

The young men and women around Kemos began unbuckling themselves and moving forward from the cabin. He stayed seated, waiting for the compartment to empty. The students chatted excitedly as they headed to the rooms ahead; it was rare to be given the opportunity to see Vale from the sky. Air ships of this quality were rare to be in civilian hands.

"Come on Yang, I want to get to the observation deck. I bet we can see Signal from down there." A young girl, looked to be 15 or so, pulled her blond friend up from here seat.

"Calm down Ruby, we have plenty of time." She attempted to calm the excited girl but it had no effect.

"I know, but I don't want to miss anything." The blond girl merely sighed as the younger girl pulled her along.

Kemos chuckled silently under his breath as he stood to follow them.

* * *

She walked through the crowd attempting to reach an open spot near the windows of the deck. It had taken 5 years to get this far but all her hard work with her teacher had finally paid off. She had been accepted to Beacon. She had been training with a local huntress that had been assigned to her hometown. She had noticed the bunny girl's talent for Glyphs and ever since then Velvet had been training with the huntress.

She finally reached the open spot she saw, hoping to get at least a bit of peace before the ship docked at beacon. She had noticed a number of students staring at her for some reason ever since she had entered the ship.

Looking to her left she noticed a blonde girl hugging her friend… or sister as she overheard the conversation. The words brought pain to her heart as she remembered the friends she left behind in her hometown of Eben. She wasn't so lucky that any of her friends had the aptitude or even the desire for the Hunting life that she had wanted ever since she first began her tutelage.

"Well what do we have here, didn't realize they let your kind in this school." Velvet turned to the voice behind her.

The man in front of her was tall and well-muscled; he wore a close cropped military cut for his brown hair. Looking further down she noticed the start of a scar on his collarbone that led under his clothing with a strap against his chest which held a large gun to his back.

My kind? What did he mean by… oh, he must mean that I'm from the frontier.

"Oh, there was a hunter stationed at my town that noticed my skill so, here I am." She shrugged her shoulders to further her point putting a broad smile on her face to seem friendlier. The man in front of her looked at her in confusion not sure how to respond.

"My names Velvet Scarlatina, what's yours?" The girl stuck out her hand in greeting. He didn't take it.

"Ignis Dorskey" the man curtly responded. He was astounded by this animal's naivety. Even more so that she showed no recognition of his family name.

"So I noticed the weapon on your back, it looks heavy." She said hoping to spark a conversation.

"Quite" the man turned and walked away from her with not even a goodbye.

"Ah, wait a minute… Dammit, how am I supposed to make friends if you don't talk to me?" She mumbled the last part under her breath. No one would be that rude in Eben.

She turned back to the window, watching the city below as she waited.

* * *

Kemos reached the final step of the stairs reaching the lower observation deck. The students were not restricted to just those from Vale. There were a number of men and woman from the Eastern Lands and if the fashion of the tall crimson haired girl is any indication there were also representatives of Mistral in attendance as well.

He adjusted the twin swords strapped to his back as he passed the sisters from before. Kemos no longer looked like the homeless beggar from his times in the town of Manning. He wore a black coat with a hood over his clothes, the tails of which reached just below his knees. He now wore heavy duty boots rather than the rotting tennis shoes he had found in one of the trash cans back in town. He continued to wear jeans like before but now they were a dark navy almost black. Over his chest he wore stained black leather armor with a grey t-shirt underneath it. To finish off his new look he wore a pair of black fingerless gloves.

Ahead of him was one of the news displays which were featuring segments on local activities. Seems the mayor was pushing an effort to repair the old city roads in light of the upcoming Vytal Festival. But that report ended as a mug shot appeared of a red head man in a white coat. Apparently this Roman Torchwick had been stealing large quantities of Dust as of late. The professor had told him that he had almost been caught by Professor Goodwitch if it hadn't been for the interference of some over confident Signal Academy student.

What was more surprising was when Port had told the boy that the Headmaster had chosen to enroll said student into Beacon. It seems foolish to allow a child to enroll but perhaps the Headmaster believes that the rigors of this school will mature her before her time.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon." A new voice brought him out of his thoughts as an image of Professor Goodwitch appeared before the students, replacing the News Segment.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace and as future Huntsman and Huntresses it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task. And now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." The image of the professor faded as she spoke the last words.

Through the windows the students could now see the spiring towers of Signal Academy, and for the former students of the said school it seemed an exciting moment.

Moving past the waterfront school the air ship now traveled over the river proper, now on a direct course towards Beacon. From here it would be only a few minutes before they would dock, but not soon enough if the blonde boy holding his mouth was any indication. The boy grunted as a liquid pushed past his fingers as he rushed past the two sisters knocking into the silent man's shoulder as he rushed towards the trash can in the rear of the compartment.

The swordsman turned towards the sick boy and took a step forward but stopped, unsure whether to confront the rude boy but ultimately stopped. It was doubtful the boy would have treated him as such if he didn't have a mouthful of vomit about to burst free.

Looking out the window the boy noticed the scenery rapidly rotating and turning to the starboard windows he could see the ship rapidly approaching the docks.

As the ship finally came to a stop the students around him began heading towards the exit ramp in between the two lower observation decks.

Walking down the ramp Kemos turned to the sound of the blonde boy once again depositing the content of his stomach into a trashcan. The silent swordsman shook his head in pity. If this boy couldn't even hold the contents of his stomach for a short flight how did he expect to fight any of the many flying type Grimm throughout Remnant.

He walked up to the boy handing him his pad.

_Need any help? You don't look so good._

The sick boy looked up from his trash can surprised that someone would come to his aid. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand the boy stood up.

"No I'm fine, just motion sickness. Nothing I can't handle." The boy put on a confident smile but the same confidence did not translate to his eyes. Kemos raised an eyebrow in response, not quite believing.

"He he… yeah… anyways my names Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it."

Kemos once again responded with but a single raised eyebrow finding the boy's statement to be naïve at best.

"Well… ah… I bet if you were a girl you would have liked it!" Jaune nearly shouted the last statement hoping the volume might actually sway him. Once again, a single eyebrow raised was the only response the blonde boy received. "I never did catch your name."

_Kemos Shepard_

"Well it's nice to meet you Kemos," the two began to walk towards the school proper only to encounter two girls in the middle of a shouting match; the girl in red from before against a girl completely decked out in white, even her hair was white. By the introduction of a third girl in black it seemed the girl in white was some woman of importance, an heiress of some sort. She definitely had the look with her expensive clothing, the look completed by the inclusion of a small crown placed in her ponytail.

This conflict ended with the heiress stalking off in anger and at the same time the girl in black left, seeming as if she had just finished some mission to annoy the girl in white. Perhaps she has some form of grudge against the girl.

With them gone the girl in red collapsed backwards in what looked to be dejected frustration. At the sight Jaune seemed to perk up smile gracing his lips. "I'm going to help her."

Jaune rushed forward his hand outstretched to the fallen girl.

"Hey… I'm Jaune"

"Ruby" she responded taking his hand to allow him to pull her up.

Kemos contitued to walk past the two, not stopping when Jaune called out to him.

"Hey, Kemos. Where are you going?" Kemos merely threw a hand over his shoulder in good bye as he continued to walk away from the two Hunters-in-training.

"Hck… aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship."

* * *

Kemos entered the sparsely occupied auditorium. Around him he could only see other first years, most likely the second to fourth year students were already moving into their assigned dorms.

The room was designed with a semi curricular. There was a raised upper section holding additional seating that encircled the entire room until the stage was reached. The stage itself had a castle backdrop to that matched the visage of Beacon.

The students around him seemed to all stay within their own little packs. Most likely they were the ones that had attended the prep schools like Signal Academy. Kemos chose to head towards the back of the auditorium rather than standing awkwardly in the middle of the floor like a few others he saw.

Throwing the hood of his coat up he leaned against the back wall; Kemos closing his eyes he enjoyed the low but steady murmurs of the other students speaking.

"Hey"

He opened his eyes to this new voice interrupting his peace; slowly turning his head he looked to the side to see this newcomer. A girl stood before him with a large rifle hanging from her right shoulder. She was of Eastern decent but by her accent she definitely raised here in the country of Vale. Her hair was black with neon blue streaks dyed into it, she had piercing all around her face; three in her left ear and another one in her right, with two along her right eyebrow, one in her nose and finally one mid left of her lower lip.

Met only with silence she began waving her hand in front of Kemos's face." Hello… You in there…"

Kemos grabbed her hand out of the air, forcing it down giving her a nod of recognition.

"Well… at least I got you to respond." She smiled with the last words, seemingly proud that she was able to get a reaction from the boy.

He shrugged in response, once again leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes.

"Oh, so you're going to ignore me" Kemos once again turned to her, with a slight crook to his neck he raised his eyebrows giving her a matter fact like look.

"Not much of a talker, is that it?" He responded by handing her his pad.

_I'm Mute._

She was taken aback by his response. Handing back the pad she said, "to be honest I'm surprised that you would be admitted to this school considering how famed they are for their teams.

He shrugged in response.

"Oh, Confident in your abilities are you? Well it will definitely be interesting to see you in action… oh look, looks like it's about to start.

A man with a cane walked up onto the stage. His white… gray… no his silver hair was a complete mess. He looked like he got straight out of bed, sounded like it for that matter.

"Ahem… I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in the search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you're finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy. In need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this. But your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

The Headmaster walked off while his second-in-command, Professor Goodwitch, stepped forward in front of the mic.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed.

"Well… wasn't he just a ray of sunshine." Exclaimed the pierced girl. "So are you going to tell me your name or am I going to have to follow you around like a puppy until I wheedle it out of you?"

Kemos was surprised by the persistence of this strange girl. To treat a complete stranger, who acted like they wanted nothing to do with you, like a close friend just seemed, well… strange.

_Isn't it polite to give ones name first before asking for another's?_

"Well I guess you're right." The girl seemed unfazed by his accusation. "My names Yumi Satou."

With a smile the girl stuck her hand out to shake, which Kemos took in response.

_Kemos Shepard._

"Well it's nice to meet Kemos, so… don't suppose you know where the cafeteria is because I haven't eaten since this morning and I am starved." She seemed partially happy that she was able to convince him to give up his name and her raised voice seemed to back up that assertion.

_Come with me, there was a map outside the auditorium._

* * *

"Come on Kemos, Don't you think it's too early for bed. Its only 8 o'clock." Yumi whined to him as she leaned on him pulling him back away from the ballroom entrance.

Rolling his eyes he shrugged her off and continued towards the ballroom, his gear and annoying enough hers as well, in his hands. Which all in all wasn't too bad considering how small the two bags were.

"Kemos… don't be so boring. We could go explore the gardens or check out… "She stopped speaking as Kemos dropped what he was caring and turned to her.

_We have initiation tomorrow morning. Don't you think we should rest up?_

She shrugged, "Well, yeah. Of course we should but no one's gonna be out right now. We would have the complete place to ourselves. Think of the trouble we could get in." Her grin seemed to get wider with each word that came out of her mouth.

Kemos turned around and once again picked up the gear and continued into the ballroom.

"Spoilsport" She yelled after him before rushing into the ballroom behind him.

As they entered the ballroom they walked under a set of two curved stairs, to the side the walls were lined with windows showing the night sky, across from them lay a small stage, presumably for a band when the room was in use for more official functions.

"Smaller than I expected" she looked around in wonder, her actions not supporting her words.

"Ahh… Hey!" She stumbled as a hand grabbed her shoulder. Looking over her shoulder to see Kemos nod his head downwards. She looked down to see a Faunus girl sleeping, if he hadn't stopped her she would have tripped over the girl, which would have probably woken the girl.

"Uhh… thanks." He shrugged matter of factly at her gratitude.

"We should probably find a place to set down before I fall over some other gal. Considering how everyone in here is a deadly warrior who knows how they might react. For all we know she might have some giant hammer which she would use to nail me into the floor.

She nudged the boy as she told her joke wiggling her eye brows all the way, "eh… eh… come on. You know that was funny.

He rolled his eyes at her before turning his head away, a small smile on his lips.

"So, see any open spaces, all these here look occupied." Kemos nodded his head towards a spot by the windows which was clear.

"Looks like we found our bedding."

He laid the two bags down beside each other then removed just his coat, his weapons and armor already having been stowed away in one of Beacon's many lockers. He kneeled down placing the folded coat on the ground before reached into his bag grabbing his toiletries.

Yumi sat down beside him, staring up at the moon outside the window. "It's a beautiful night, you know we could still… Hey were you going?"

Kemos turned holding up his blue and white toothbrush.

"Ah… that's a good point, I should probably do that to." She jumped up grabbing her bag as she followed him towards the lavatories.

* * *

Yumi exited the lavatory to find Kemos leaning against the wall opposite waiting for her. An almost evil grin grew on her face as she approached him, her hands clasped behind her back.

"Ahh that's cute… you waited for me." He shrugged matter of factly before heading back towards their spot.

His lack of response stumped her, words failed to come to her so that she may continue her teasing. But did notice an opening.

"So…" he turned his attention towards her as they walked.

"I see you're not going shirtless like all the other boys around here. Whys that?"

He looked over at her with an incredulous look. He continued on choosing to not even dignify that question with a response.

Reaching their spot Kemos laid down resting his head on his folded coat before closing his eyes. He then felt a hand nudge him against the shoulder. He turned his head, annoyance apparent on his face, to stare at the girl beside him.

"You're not going to use a sleeping bag or even a blanket." He shook his head in response.

"Aren't you going to get cold?"

_It's warm enough to sleep._

"Damn… where are you from that you would think that this was warm. Seriously, they have the air-conditioning on right now, how can you be warm?"

_I've slept in worse places._

The way he wrote that made Yumi want to question him further about these 'places' but she could tell he didn't want to discuss the issue any further.

Well… oh come on. How do they expect us to sleep with those girls making such a racket over there?"

Kemos opened his eyes to see a group of people on the other side of the ballroom fighting each other over some issue.

"I'm gonna go over there and give them a piece of my mind." She started to rise but not before a hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder forcing her back down.

_I'm sure they'll stop soon._

And luckily enough they did.


	3. Chapter 3

Kemos woke up with a jolt to a girl screaming.

Or rather to a girl singing her head off at six A.M. in the morning.

"Wake up lazy Bum! Its Morning, Its Morning, Its Morning, Its Morning!"

Just a few feet from Kemos and Yumi was a very hyper orange haired girl how was singing to her sleeping friend; who was wearing strangely formal sleeping attire. It was green and black with a gold thread lining it and looked more like something one would wear for everyday use. Perhaps even for combat. Although Kemos wasn't really one to talk considering he was still wearing what he wore the day before.

Kemos was now wide awake; the same could not be said for the girl beside him who had slept through the entire barrage of noise.

Unlikely to get back to sleep the silent boy choose to rise to answer the calls of nature. If he hurries he may even have time to do a warm-up before Breakfast.

But soon after entering the lavatory he heard the voice of the girl from before enter the bathroom He turned in confusion and with a bit of fear, but was surprised to see the boy in green enter with his friend tagging along to join him.

He frowned at this intrusion of social norms, but chose to ignore it as the boy slid beside him as he extracted his toothbrush.

"Morn"

Kemos nodded in return to his greeting as the girl behind them continued her rant.

"I can't believe we've been at Beacon for a full 24 hours. Not that I thought we'd get kicked out or anything, well you're the perfect student and well… I'm me. Crazy, you know?"

Kemos turned and leaned against the counter as he continued to watch the girl speak.

With an exasperated the sigh the boy in green joined him as they both stared at the girl practically jumping off the walls.

"Yeah, she's always like that. Huh…" The boy looked down as Kemos passed his pad over to the boy.

_We should introduce her to my friend. I think they would get along._

"The girl you were sleeping next to?" Kemos nodded.

"Hm… she should probably be getting up soon if she wants breakfast before the initiation. Unless of course that's part of her plan. Not all Hunters like fighting on a full stomach."

Kemos shrugged at his statement before he walked towards the entrance to wake his friend.

"Hey wait… "Kemos turned to look at the boy.

"How would you like to join us for breakfast?" Kemos contemplated the thought of joining them. He had wanted to have a more quiet breakfast before the test but considering last night it seemed unlikely that Yumi would be the quietest of people. Reaching a conclusion the silent boy nodded to the somewhat less silent of a teen. Exiting the lavatory he could still hear the girl ranting and raving.

Kneeling beside the sleeping girl he grabbed her shoulder to shake her away. With but the slightest movement the girl bolted up yelling.

"I'm awake! I'm awake!" the girl looked around in a panic before her eyes settled on Kemos's. He noticed a good dosage of fear in her eyes, but it was quickly smothered as grin grew on the girl's face.

"Oh… touching a girl as she's sleeping are you? You wouldn't happen to be trying to cop a feel now are you?" As she spoke her voice became sultrier with each word.

Kemos rolled his eyes in response to her tone. Moving his hands to his lips he made a chomping motion with his jaws.

The girl looked at him in confusion for a moment before getting his meaning.

"Oh… do you mean breakfast?" she questioned as she grabbed her bag. Kemos nodded in response then held up his hand with five fingers outstretched while tapping his wrist.

"Five Minutes?" Once again Kemos nodded to her answer.

"Be back in a minute then"

As she attended the lavatory Kemos began to pack up their things, or in his case unfolded and put on his coat.

The two teenagers from before were putting the last touches on their packing, the boy was tying his sleeping roll while the girl, still ranting, was brushing her hair.

"We've been friends for sooo long, what are the odds we'd still be together… well, not together together. Not that I'm saying you're not handsome, you are handsome, but that'd just be weird. Right?"

The silent boy looked at the girl as she continued her odd behavior before turning his head to the much quieter boy beside her. He raised his eyebrow questioningly.

With a defeated look on his face he sighed before answering Kemos's unasked question. "Yes, she is always like this."

Walking up behind the boys Yumi threw her arms over the two boys' shoulders as she spoke.

"Sooo, Kemos. Who's your new friend?" Kemos gave her a knowing look as he remained silent.

The orange haired girl popped up from below them with her arms outstretched. The unexpected appearance of a girl who but a few seconds before was ten feet away surprised them enough for the three to stumble back. Or in the case of the green clothed boy pulled back by the startled Yumi.

"Ohhhh, who are you two? I haven't seen either of you before. What are your names? I love your piercings. I always wanted to get one but my papa always said no." Her voice changed suddenly as she took a stern look to her face. "No daughter of mine is going to get pierced. How do you expect to find a nice husband who will stay at home and do his wifely duties if you're prancing around with piercings?"

"Nora"

"Yes Ren"

"That doesn't make any sense."

"That's what I said!" the girl swung her arms for emphasis. The two newcomers beside Ren now almost forgotten by the girl.

Yumi stepped forward coughing to get their attention.

"Well, now that we know your names, I'm Yumi Satou and this is Kemos Shepard." Kemos waived at the two when Yumi pointed at him.

"Ohhh! It's so nice to meet the two of you." Nora rushed forward grabbing Yumi's hand with both of hers shaking it enthusiastically. "Well, I'm Nora Valkyrie and this is my besty Lie Ren."

"You can just call me Ren"

"Well it's nice to meet the both of you, but I heard some girls in the restroom talking about the cafeteria serving pancakes sooo."

"Pancakes! Ren hurry! We have to get the pancakes!" Grabbing her friends hand she dragged him towards the exit of the ballroom but not before practically singing over her shoulder. "You better hurry or their going to be all gone by the time you get there."

* * *

Ren was calming slicing his pancakes as the two of them sat down; on the other hand Nora was practically inhaling hers.

"… I hope we end up on the same team… oh Yumi! Kemos! You should join our team! The loud and proud girls of power shadowed by the silent and stoic boys! We should make a plan Ren! To make sure we're both on the same team."

Nora already seemed to have forgotten her suggestion for the four of them to team up as she questioned her long-time friend.

"What if we bribe the Headmaster? No, that wouldn't work… he has a school."

Yumi leaned over to whisper in Kemos's ear "I know that I talk a lot, but damn, does she talk. I don't even think she's stopped to chew her food. She just swallowed it whole."

Kemos shook with silent laughter as the girl did just as Yumi said.

"Nora."

"Yes Ren."

"Finish your pancakes"

"So Ren, how long have the two of you known each other? You seem quite close to each other."

Ren set down his fork and was about to speak but was interrupted as Nora jumped up from her seat and slammed her now empty plate on the table splattering the sticky syrup onto the people around her.

"Oh me and Ren have known each other since we were kids. We met when we were in 1st grade…"

"We were in 4th grade."

"And Ren had just moved to our town, so I was walkin home one day and I found ten bullies attacking Ren…"

"There were only three of them."

"I told them to stop and when they wouldn't I beat them all up" At her final words she struck a triumphant pose."

"Now that part is true. This was before my parents started training me in combat techniques so I wasn't prepared."

Yumi got a confused look on her face "But Nora's parents had already started training her?"

"No she's just naturally that strong. I bet she could out lift any of the First-Year students I've seen so far."

"Damn"

"Attention all First-Year students, Group A Initiation will begin in thirty minutes. All students in Group A must be at Beacon Cliff at the appointed time."

"Well that's us. What group are you two in Ren?"

"Same as you."

Nora jumped onto the table, pointing to the cafeteria's exit. "To the lockers!"

She dashed off and with a sigh Ren stood and followed.

Turning to Kemos Yumi put on a somewhat smug face, "Last chance to back out. You sure you can handle it?"

With a grin Kemos shook his head as he stood to follow the others, Yumi laughing behind him.

* * *

The two entered the locker-room as the Group A students milled about talking and discussing the coming battle.

Just a few feet away Kemos could see Jaune walking in circles with a panicked look on his face staring at a piece of paper. Looking up he noticed the silent boy. Waving he rushed over.

"Kemos! Good to see you, I… ah… I put my stuff in locker six-three-six but I can't find it. You gotta help." The blonde boy pleaded with him as his posture just screamed defeat.

Kemos was about to direct him when Yumi slid up next to him.

"Oh Kemos, Who's your friend? He's kinda cute."

Jaunes face turned a deep crimson at the complement as he stuttered out a response.

"I… I… um… ye-yeah…"

Kemos rolled his eyes as he gave Yumi a light backhand to her shoulder. Yumi grinned at Kemos before turning back to Jaune.

"Relax. I was just teasing you. Although, I still haven't caught your name."

"It's Jaune."

"Well it's nice to meet you Jaune. Now, you said you were having trouble finding your locker?"

"Yeah. Six-three-six."

"Well then, let's find that lost locker."

Feeling a tapping on her shoulder Yumi turned to Kemos.

_Six-three-six is down that row_

Kemos pointed down that was occupied with a number of girls already including the girl in red that Jaune had talked to the day before.

_This is also where our lockers are, although ours are closer._

"Hey Kemos, you see that girl in white, the one we saw fighting with Ruby from before. I think she likes me." Kemos raised an eyebrow at the boy speculation evident on his face.

"Really Jaune, you think the Ice Queen is into you " Yumi had an equally if not more speculative look on her face.

"Hey don't call her that."

"I overheard some of the things she's been saying and I think Ice Queen is an appropriate term, and for that matter I don't think you should be getting your hopes up.

Jaune snorted in dissent. "Well I think she is so I'm gonna talk to her." Jaune rushed ahead of the two beside him.

"Good luck, "Yumi yelled after him then whispered to the boy beside her. "He is so gonna fail."

Kemos could only nod in agreement. Opening his locker Kemos removed his coat so as to place the leather piece on to his chest. Beside him Yumi was removing her rifle, which was so long it barely fit within the confines. But seeing that she only removed her rifle and a couple clips he raised an eyebrow in question.

"What?" Yumi asked suspiciously upon noticing him staring

_You only have your weapon, no armor or anything?_

Yumi smiled at his words, "Kemos, I'm a sniper. If someone has gotten close enough to me such that I would require armor I've already failed. Out of sight and out of mind is kinda my thing."

Kemos shrugged at her words as he finished fastening his armor to his body. He then threw on his coat and affixed his swords to his back; drawing the blades from there sheaths to ensure they were at an easily accessible position.

"Nervous?"

Kemos shrugged once more.

"Don't worry I'm nervous to. Besides, you'll have me there to back you up."

Kemos smiled at her words but her own reassuring smile vanished as he heard a person approaching from behind.

Turning towards the newcomer he discovered it was in fact Professor Port and he was carrying a large bag with him.

"Mr. Shepard, I do trust you are prepared" Kemos nodded in deference.

"I don't believe we have yet met Miss…?"

"It's Yumi Satou, Sir."

"Well it was pleasant meeting you; I expect to see you in one of my classes. And Kemos, this is for you." The man handed over the tan bag that he was caring. "I trust you remember how to use it?"

Kemos nodded to the older gentleman, the man then walked off without another word.

"Well that was weird, what was that he gave you?"

_I'll explain later._

"Will all Group A First Year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

Kemos nodded towards the exit and began walking towards it. As they approached they noticed a red haired girl removing a spear from a column of which just moments prior had Jaune pinned to.

Yumi leaned in to whisper into Kemos's ear. "Told you he'd fail."

Kemos could only nod in agreement.

* * *

The students of Group A were now gathered on the Cliff side, each of them standing on a square metal plate.

The Headmaster along with Professor Goodwitch stood in front of the students. Stepping forward Professor Ozpin began to speak.

"For years you have trained to become warriors. Today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

As he stopped speaking Professor Goodwitch took up the slack.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates… Today.

Kemos could hear the Ruby girl mumbling in surprise and annoyance. Professor Ozpin continued to speak.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Again Ruby whined in complaint.

"With that being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

Ruby was no longer mumbling as she now yelled in complaint.

"After you've partnered up make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path or you will die."

This time it wasn't Ruby complain but rather Jaune who laughed in his nervousness, his gulp quite audible.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item as well as your standing and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Jaune raised his hand, "ah… yeah… Sir?"

"Good, now take your positions."

"Ah… Sir… I have a-ah… question. So this landing strategy thing… what is it? You're like dropping us off or something?

A small smile graced Professor Ozpin's lips at Jaune's question. "No, you will be falling."

"Oh… I see. So did you like handout parachutes for us?"

"No"

"Then what about Kemos, that bag doesn't look like his standard gear."

"Special circumstances." Ozpin's small smile grew into a massive grin at his next words. "And besides Mister Arc, with transcripts like yours why would you need the assistance of a parachute… hmm...?"

"So…" but Jaune was cut off as he was launched into the air, screaming.

Soon after, Kemos was launched after the rest of the students.

* * *

The wind rushed past as Kemos flew through the air or to be more accurate falling upwards with an inventible drop followed by a sudden stop.

That sudden stop was something Kemos was attempting to avoid.

As he was still moving upwards enabling the parachute given to him by professor port would not only be fool hardy but ineffective in the strictest of terms. Pulling the cord at the top of his arc would most likely be the safest time to start, that is if he wasn't over Grimm territory. Pulling the chute too soon would make him a target for aerial Grimm, and if they didn't take him out the mid fall the Grimm seeing the slow moving object would easily predict his destination and take him out.

No, Kemos's only option would be to pull the chute shortly before hitting the ground. The only problem was when to pull it. But he had to make the decision soon, he had reached the top of the arc and he was quickly approaching the tree tops.

Mere seconds from the tree line he pulled his chute… but it was much too late.

He tore through the top of the tree, tearing through and breaking the branches as he fell.

He saw the swiftly approaching ground but was suddenly stopped as the parachute became stuck on the tree. The stop was much faster than he had wished it and the straps of the pack rubbed painfully on his now sore body. He moved to grab his dagger so as to cut the chute's strings but was stopped by a blinding pain in his side. Looking down he noticed that a small branch had made it past his armor and impaled his side. Luckily by the looks of it the branch had missed any vital organs.

Ignoring the pain Kemos extracted his dagger from belt and cut the wires above him making him fall the remaining ten feet to the forest ground, the branch in his side helping in no way his most recent landing.

Grabbing one end of the branch he broke it off then swiftly pulled the branch out of his body casting to the side.

He fell back resting against the tree's trunk. He opened one of the pouches on his belt removing from it a number of leaves which he briefly chewed before placing in the wound. The medicinal herbs did little to dull the pain but he hoped they would be effective in lessening the likelihood of an infection or at the very least reduce the bleeding till he could receive proper medical care after the initiation was over.

* * *

It was a good few minutes before he came across another student. The one ahead of him was a girl who was hiding behind a tree preparing to jump a Beowolf. The only problem was she failed to see the other six Beowolves behind the one she was aiming for.

Rushing forward he grabbed the girl, placing a hand over her mouth so she wouldn't make a sound.

Suffice to say she was surprised by this intrusion and nearly screamed before she noticed it was in fact another student rather than a Grimm that had assaulted her.

Kemos placed a finger to his lips motioning for silence before removing his hand from her lips, picking up a rock to his side he raised his hands and threw the projectile as hard as he could.

Hearing the rock strike an object away from them the pack of Beowolves perked up before dashing in direction towards the new sound.

With the Grimm now gone the girl stood defiantly stamping her foot. "I could have taken them."

Kemos raised an eyebrow at her statement an turned to continue on but fell as his strength left him.

"Hey! Are you ok?"

Kemos winced in pain as he slowly dragged himself towards one of the trees to rest upon.

"Hey wait. Let me help you." Putting one of his arms of her shoulder she lifted him up and dragged him the remaining distance to the tree. Laying him against the trunk she finally noticed a thick, dark red liquid slowly oozing from his abdomen.

"You're bleeding!" Kemos snorted at her obvious statement.

"Dammit, and I don't know any healing Glyphs. Can you use your aura to heal yourself?"

But Kemos paid little attention to her second statement instead fixating on her first. Extracting his pad he quickly wrote a short sentence, doing his best not to drip any more of his blood on the pad, to do so would make it all illegible.

_You said Glyphs right? Do you know any fire Glyphs?_

"Well yeah… but how would that help with anything?"

_I need you to cauterize the wound. If you don't I'm likely to bleed out before this day is done._

"But I… I can't do that… I'm not trained in medical stuff…" She stumbled out her words as her voice dripped with fear but Kemos only motioned her to do as he said.

Reluctantly she pressed her hand against the wound and concentrated the Glyphs appearing on the wound. The flames burst out, much greater than she had wanted and the flames burned the torn flesh and healthy flesh alike as Kemos writhed in pain, he silently screamed as she finished.

Breathing a sigh of relief "There… we're done, you ok now?" But rather than speak he grabbed her hand and thrust it once more at his side where she felt more blood flowing over her fingers. A second wound, not as bad as the first but still needing to be closed.

She once again provided her Glyphs, Kemos fared little better than the first time, but at least she was able to control her flames somewhat better this time reducing the amount of healthy flesh that was harmed.

With the wounds closed and the sharp pain of the burns keeping him awake he now had the opportunity to really look at the girl in front of him.

She was a Faunus, her rabbit ears sticking out of the top of her head. The fur was the color of chocolate matching the hair below it. The girl before him wore a dark green button down with the sleeves rolled up to her shoulders; over it she had a brown vest with a fur lined hood. Across her chest was the strap of a small satchel hanging just above her waist. She wore brown fingerless gloves on her hands with what looked to be Glyphs inscribed on the palms of her gloves. She wore dark brown pants, whose legs were tucked into the light brown boots that ended just below her knees.

Her face was etched with concern for the injured boy in front of her.

"Hey are you good now, or at least better than before." Kemos nodded in response.

"I'm guessing you can't talk or something." Kemos snorted and shrugged sardonically.

"Hey! I just saved your life. Don't act so sarcastic with me."

_And I suppose you think you can take six Beowolves by yourself, five of which you didn't know were there. We were lucky we were downwind of them or they would have smelled you, and my blood for that matter, long for that matter long before we could have put up a defense._

The girl puffed out her cheeks in a pout. "Fine. Believe what you will. Anyways my name is Velvet Scarlatina. What's yours?"

_Kemos Shepard._

"Well it's nice to meet you partner. We should probably get moving…" She stopped rising from her kneeling position when she felt a hand grab her should.

_Let's wait a minute. I loss a lot of blood in the landing I need a minute to get my strength back._

"Fine we can wait a little while." She sat down cross legged in front of the silent boy.

Minutes of silence passed with just the birds and nature around them to fill the silence.

"I was wondering something." Kemos opened his eyes as she woke him from his slumber.

"I was wondering why you didn't use your aura to shield yourself from the fall or for that matter why couldn't you heal yourself."

Kemos turned his head trying to avoid her eyes in shame. Velvet quickly became annoyed at his evasions.

"Hey don't ignore me! I'm getting tired of always having to yell to get your attention."

Kemos looked at the girl wide-eyed, not expecting the sudden outburst by the quiet and timid girl. With a heavy sigh he reluctantly took his pad out and wrote his response.

_My aura doesn't work that way. I can't use it to shield myself; I can't use it to heal myself. In fact I can't use it for anything other than for the use of my semblance. Any even minor usages of it heavily drain my reserves._

Velvet looked at the boy in confusion. "I've never heard of anything like that. How is that even possible?" Velvet couldn't even imagine a life without the ability to use her aura. The idea that her use of her Glyphs could be restricted or outright removed from her use was too painful to think about.

"What's your semblance than."

_I can create illusions. But as I said my use of it is heavily restricted, even the most minor of illusion greatly taxes my abilities. Furthermore my illusions don't work that well against Grimm._

"Why doesn't it work on Grimm?"

_I can explain more in depth after we're done with this, for now we should get moving._

Kemos rose from his position against the tree and began to walk north towards the temple but was stopped by Velvet's voice.

"Wait a minute. Could you at least give me a demonstration? You've seen me use my Glyphs and I can see you use swords but I would like to see you semblance."

With a sigh he turned to his partner and outstretched his hand palm up. Concentrating he focused his mind on Velvet. Looking at his hand she saw a small leaf shimmer into existence floating in mid-air. Reaching out she moved to touch the leaf, but her hand passed through it.

She looked at the leaf in front of her in wonderment. "Wow… that is impressive"

With a sigh he turned over his pad to her.

_It may be but that little trick probably took out a good ten percent or so of my aura reserves._

"Seriously?"

He nodded in response before heading once again north to the temple.

* * *

Kemos and Velvet had been heading north for the past half hour and had yet to hit any resistance from the local Grimm.

"Isn't this a bit strange? Were supposed to be testing our abilities and we haven't seen a single Grimm since the pack of Beowolves you distracted."

Kemos nodded in agreement, the surrounding area was unusually quiet for a forest that was supposedly crawling with Grimm. Other than the cries of a Nevermore they heard ten or so minutes earlier they saw no sign of even other students.

A few more minutes of silence they came upon an open corridor in the vast forest. Straight down the clearing on the far end was a collapsing structure and between them and the structure was an extensive array of large feathers stuck into the ground.

"Looks like we found where the Nevermore was attacking. Do you think they survived?"

But rather than answer her question rather he pointed to two figures crouching in the dirt farther ahead of them.

Rushing forward the two quickly ran forward moving as quietly as possible before crouching down with the two other students.

Velvet moved a bit closer before whispering. "Hey!"

The man jumped slightly in surprise and turned bristling when he saw the newcomer. Quickly putting on a neutral face he turned back to the temple in the distance and grunted a greeting.

Kemos, on the other hand, got a much more welcome greeting.

"Kemos!" Yumi jumped forward gathering him into a hug and pulling him off his feet before setting him back down. "I told you we'd meet up again."

Kemos could only smile at his friend's reaction.

"So you two know each other."

Kemos could only gesture matter-of-factly as he responded to the bunny mage.

"You know for someone who can't talk you are surprisingly very sarcastic."

If only to annoy her he rolled his eyes at the girl.

"So anyways… why are you two just waiting here, looks wide open to me?"

With a heavy sigh Yumi spoke, "Ignis here wanted to go rushing in to grab the relics, but I didn't like the look of those Nevermore feathers over there and I held him back until we could get a better idea of the situation."

Kemos nodded in agreement, the inclusion of a Nevermore was not subtle in the least, and scavengers were likely to follow when a Grimm of that size was involved.

Ignis turned with an angry expression on his face "Dammit, I'm tired of waiting. There's nothing out there. Let's just get the goods and go." Ignis turned to leave for the temple but was stopped by a hand on his arm.

Holding up a hand to indicate him to stop Kemos crouched back down waiting for Ignis to do the same.

Succumbing to the silent boys gaze he followed in his actions.

He turned to Yumi, pointing at his eyes before indicating to the tree line behind the temple.

Yumi noticeably paled at whatever she saw.

"I see nine Beowolves, at least three of them are Alphas."

Kemos could understand her apprehension. An Alpha was never seen without its pack and a single Alpha led anywhere between five to ten other Beowolves. To have three Alphas in a single group meant they were facing anywhere between fifteen to thirty normal Beowolves plus the three more powerful Alphas.

"The Alphas might be tough but if we work together I'm sure we can take out nine Beowolves." Velvet reassured them.

_Those Beowolves aren't the problem. The issue is the ones we can't see._

Yumi stepped forward "He's right, there are at the very least eighteen Grimm there. And that's only if we are very lucky. We can't take in this situation. Either we need a plan to take them out or try and wait them out and hope they leave."

Ignis raised his voice at the last part, "Waiting isn't an option. We are Hunters not some lowly Village Guard. We kill the Grimm, not cower in the trees hoping they'll leave."

Kems nodded in agreement before extracting his pad.

_I have a plan. Velvet, do you remember that small canyon we passed coming here?_

Velvet looked at him in confusion, not understanding what he was trying to get at. "Yeah I remember seeing it, it wasn't very big 'bout two hundred feet long give or take. Why do you want to know?"

_I was thinking that you and Ignis could go there and stay up high on the cliff side; I would get the Beowolves attention and lead them there. You would close the entrance with an ice wall creating a kill box. They would have nowhere to go and they would be able to retaliate._

Ignis was looking skeptical at him. "But what about you? You would be stuck in the canyon along with them."

_I'd climb the side._

"And the Beowolves wouldn't?"

Yumi spoke up at his words. "They're wolves Ignis. They're not exactly built for climbing. I'm more concerned that you left me out of this plan."

Kemos grinned at her words.

_Your part is actually the most important part; your job is to make sure none of the Beowolves catch me before reaching the canyon. Pick your roost, as long as you can take out any of the Grimm before they do the same to me and we'll be golden._

"I can handle that"

"How long will it take you to get to the canyon?"

"It took me and Kemos about ten minutes to get here when we passed it; with him running the time will be significantly shorter."

_Then you guys should go now, in fifteen minutes I'll head out and bring them in._

"See you then Kemos, you coming Ignis?" Velvet left with Ignis close behind her.

"So you think this will actually work?" Kemos just stared at her with a sarcastic look in his eyes.

"Right, stupid question." Kemos moved forward to reassure her but a sudden pain caused him clutch his wound in agony, he did his best to hide it but with Yumi's sharp eyes there was little she missed.

"Kemos what's wrong. What happened before we met up?" The worry was evident on her face as she moved forward to support him.

Kemos shook his head trying to play it off as nothing but she persisted none the less.

"Kemos don't try to hide from me, it won't work, I'll just find you. "She put on a reassuring smile with her last words.

With a heavy sigh he admitted his mistakes to her.

_I got injured in the fall. Velvet was able to cauterize the wound but I lost a lot of blood and there's still quite a bit of pain._

"Kemos you can't be the runner like this, you stay here I'll…" but she stopped as Kemos silenced her with a finger.

_The plan only works if you're there to cover me. But thank you for offering, it means a lot to me._

"Well… fine. I'm gonna go find myself a good position. You'd better not die, you got that." Yumi waved goodbye and left Kemos to his silence.

The next fifteen minutes passed quickly as the pack of Beowolves barely moved. With plenty of time having been passed Kemos walked out of the tree line pulling his swords from the sheaths on his back. At first the Beowolves took no notice of him but their ears perked up when he began knocking the flats of his blades against each other.

They were slow at first suspicious that a lone man would approach them so openly but their natural instincts took over as they rushed the boy. Kemos turned as he sheathed his swords and ran back to the tree line and the canyon beyond it.

He had made it deep into the clearing before they had noticed him and the Beowolves were quickly outpacing him. They would likely overtake him before he reached the somewhat more safe area of the forest where the Grimm would be forced to slow down.

One of the faster Grimm was close on his heels; he could feel the creature's breath on the back preparing to strike. But then he felt an object rush past his head creating a wet sound behind as the hot breath disappeared and a loud thump of the Grimm's body tumbled on the ground. Two of the closest Beowolves tripped over the now headless body of their pack mate giving Kemos much needed time to reach the tree line forcing the remaining Grimm to slow their pace to avoid the stationary trees.

Another Grimm jumped forward moving to strike at him as Kemos rolled under the outstretched claw. A tree next to the Grimm exploded with shrapnel as Yumi fired another shot. While she may have missed the shrapnel was enough of a distraction for Kemos to regain his speed and allow him to get back on his path.

Kemos was not far from the location now and was able to get a small distance between him and the Beowolf pack behind him. Yumi had performed her job perfectly; she was able to eliminate a Grimm or two while allowing the Grimm's focus to remain on Kemos.

Seeing the upcoming entrance Kemos put on a final burst of speed passing the threshold, he ran towards the rear of the canyon. Out of the corners of his eyes Kemos could see Ignis and Velvet and either side of the cliff. With the Beowolves hot on his heels he jumped up and grabbed a tree branch and pulled himself up onto the tree before climbing further up to reach an outcropping in the canyon.

With the last of the Grimm rushing in after him Velvet produced one of her Glyphs on the narrow entrance of the canyon sealing the Grimm in with a thick wall made of ice.

With the kill box secured Ignis opened up on the enemy below. The rounds from his rifle tearing though flesh and bone. The pieces of bone plate did little to protect the Grimm from the onslaught of bullets from the rifleman.

But he was not alone in his assault as Velvet joined in by raining down fire and ice onto the helpless creatures.

The Grimm scampered around in fear as their numbers quickly diminished with no way to retaliate. The lesser Beowolves clawing at the cliff side in an attempt to reach their attackers, the Alphas on the stood stoically at the center staring at the ones who were annihilating their pack. They had long since realized the futility of resisting. One might call them brave or even proud for their ability to look death in the eyes during defeat, but they were Grimm, monsters that need to be destroyed not admired.

The massacre lasted less than a minute, with no were to go and no way to defend themselves they all died.

Ignis jumped down from his roost careful to avoid the growing pools of blood as he moved to join with the two others who had already made their way down.

Velvet scrunched her nose as the smell of iron and shit permeated the air.

"Well… that was pleasant"

"It's war, what did you expect" Ignis criticized the mage in front of him. He stepped over a piece of charred flesh as he spoke. "These are Grimm and this is their place in life. To die."

Kemos interrupting the two put on an expectant look as he silently asked if they were prepared to go.

"Yeah Kemos, just give me a minute to melt the wall." Raising her hand she sent a stream of blazing flames onto the ice wall which slowly melted against the onslaught.

With the wall melted they passed though the exit to encounter Yumi waiting for them with her rifle slung over her shoulder.

"I take it you were successful?"

Kemos nodded as they walked back to the temple.

* * *

The four students entered the now abandoned temple twenty pedestal surrounded them, most of which held a black or gold chess piece.

Ignis stepped forward picking up a black queen before setting it back down. "So these are the so called relics? To be honest I'm kinda disappointed, expected them to be more… I don't know… grand I guess."

"Well at least their small; easy to carry and they won't interfere if we get in combat on the way back."

Kemos stepped forward, picking up the golden bishop he inspected the piece. Just a normal chest piece by the looks of it. He tossed the object over to Yumi who caught the projectile easily in her hand.

"A bishop?"

Kemos held up the second golden bishop.

She ginned at the silent swordsman. "I guess we match then."

"So we got the relics we needed, how about we get going. My aura running low from that plan and I don't think I could last in an extended battle."

"I don't see why not, you guys okay?"

Kemos gave her a nod while Ignis gave her a wave of acknowledgement.

"Then we're good, let's get going. I'm starving. What do you think their serving in the cafeteria, eh, Velvet?"

* * *

They now stood in the auditorium once again, now waiting to be called up to the stage. The previously unoccupied seats from the welcome ceremony were now occupied by the 2nd through 4th year students. And as it turned out the relics chosen determined the teams, matching colored relics meant same team.

"Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward you will work to together as Team CRDL. Led by Cardin Winchester."

As he finished announcing Team CRDL; Jaune, Nora, Ren, and the red headed girl walked up on stage.

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team JNPR. Led by… Jaune Arc."

Jaune was startled to say the least. "Huh? Led by…?"

"Congratulations young man."

Pyrrah punched Jaune in the shoulder as a friendly gesture, but he was unprepared for the blow as he fell down onto the stage. There was a brief wave of laughter from the crowd and after a pause Professor Ozpin continued.

"Blake Belladona, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by… Ruby Rose."

Even from behind Kemos and his soon to be team could tell that Miss Schnee was not happy in the least to be passed over for the younger and less mature Ruby.

"And finally. Kemos Shepard, Velvet Scarlatina, Ignis Dorskey, Yumi Satou. You four retrieved the white bishop pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team KIVY (pronounced team KIWI). Led by… Kemos Shepard."

Frankly Kemos was more surprised to be given leadership then Jaune was. It seemed entirely inappropriate to have the leadership position turned over to a man who can't properly communicate instructions to his team in the middle of battle. But this was no time to challenge Professor Ozpin's decision, not in an open forum such as this. He would wait and find out why he was chosen later.

"Looks like things are shaping up to be an interesting year."

Professor Goodwitch walked up from behind Ozpin. "Attention students. The cafeteria will be open until midnight tonight. Use that time to rest and get to know your team, but do remember that classes do start tomorrow so be prepared."

As the new Team KIVY descended from the stage the other three members could hear Ignis mumbling angrily to himself.

Yumi slid up beside him as they walked. "Something wrong Ignis, ya sound like shit."

"He named us after a fruit! A damn fruit! What is more demeaning then that?"

Velvet stepped forward and quietly spoke, "Well our initials aren't exactly the easiest to work with. Especially considering he only had a few hours to think up a name, there were a lot of teams being created you should remember."

Kemos shook his head in annoyance at Ignis's rant, kiwi as a name for KIVY wasn't the worst possible name by far and he didn't understand Ignis's anger.

"Yeah but a damn fruit!"

Yumi gave Ignis a light punch to the shoulder, "Ignis I think you're misunderstanding something. We weren't named after a fruit. We were named after a MAJESTIC BIRD!" She yelled out the last two words as she threw her hands in the air.

"You should feel honored to be named after the amazing kiwi."

Nora bounded up behind the team jumping on top of Ignis.

"You guys got named after the kiwi! Isn't that awesome! Ren come over here they got named after the kiwi."

Kemos silently laughed at Nora's reaction to their new team name. Lightly tapping Velvet against her shoulder with the back of his hand he nodded to the exit indicating to head in that direction. Ignis and Yumi seeing this quickly followed followed shortly after by Nora close on their heels with Ren trying to catch the excited Nora.

**Hey everyone, I hoped you like the new chapter. A little info, normally I like to update my story on Tuesdays but over the next few weeks I'm going to be really busy with classes and such so I might not be able to update that often. I hope I find the time to get another chapter out but there's no guarantee; so, I wanted to at least get the initiation chapter out before I make my, hopefully short, absence.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone, today's my 21st birthday so I figured, why not celebrate it by posting another chapter. So here it is. Oh and what I said about not likely being able to post much last chapter, that's still true. I was just able to get this done in between classes. So lucky you guys.**

**__****Italics – indicates written words**

"So there we were. Running for the tower, the Deathstalker and Nevermore hot on our heels. We had almost made it past the bridge when the Nevermore destroyed the bridge stranding Pyrrah, Ren, and Blake with the Deathstalker. We had to get over there to help them. So what do you think Nora does? She hammers the bridge sending me flying to the other side while she boosts over straight onto the Deathstalker."

Yumi turned from Jaune to Nora, her eyes wide in admiration. "Damn Nora, that is impressive. I wish we could have been there to see that."

"Oh that's nothing Yumi. The bridge was collapsing so we had to get off it and the only way was straight through the Deathstalker. So me and Pyrrah ran forward and blocked its claws while Ren, the crazy bastard, grabs the stinger and starts shooting it from there with the tail singing him this way and that."

"Well it wasn't exactly my smartest move; I did get thrown straight into a pillar after Pyrrah shot her javelin into one of the Grimm's eyes." Ren looked slightly embarrassed at his admission.

Jaune placed his hand on Ren's shoulder with a reassuring smile. "Don't sell yourself short Ren, if you hadn't damaged the Deathstalker's stinger Pyrrah never would have been able to sever it for Nora to nail it into the creature."

Ignis looked up from his meal of meat and potatoes, a look of admiration on his face. "I have to say, I'm impressed. They did say they recorded all of the initiation, do you think they're going to release the tapes of them."

"I for one hope so, I want to review the battle. See what I could have done better. If I'm gonna lead Team JNPR then I need to know our fighting styles inside in out. Plus, reviewing the records may show me a better strategy that we could have used to take out the Deathstalker."

Pyrrah nudged the blonde boy with her shoulder, "You do realize we could just show you during training and all. I'm sure we'd be happy to provide any help you need."

Jaune rubbed the back of his neck a look of embarrassment on his face, "No its fine I can handle it, besides the recording will show me how you guys react to real combat situations rather than prepared moves for training."

"Vomit Boy's has a point" Yang leaned forward from across the table, "Trainings nothing like the real thing. Nowhere near the same rush or the feeling of danger."

Weiss on the other hand seemed to take offense at this line of reasoning, "I for one see the advantage of proper etiquette in an encounter, for example, if Ruby here had follow the proper order the forest wouldn't have been set on fire!"

"Hey, that was an accident, how was I supposed to know you were going to attack? You were just standing there in the middle of the forest not doing anything."

"I was preparing to strike; a real huntress would have been able to tell." Their voices continued to rise as the argument lengthened, the rising volume attracting the attention of the surrounding students.

"Well I…"

"Enough" Yang jumped up from her seat yelling at the two girls; and for a moment Kemos could swear that he saw he eyes change color, from lilac to a fiery red and back to lilac.

"You two need to calm down, this is no place to having this conversation."

Jaune, with a nervous laugh, attempted to change the subject. "So Kemos what was your team up to during the initiation, get any cool kills?"

Kemos looked up from his plate his fork hovering over the tomato he was about to spear. He turned to Yumi and gave her a nod before turning back to his plate.

"So me and Ignis's landings were pretty uneventful. We made it to the temple fast enough but we made it after you guys had already been there, so there were a ton of Nevermore feathers there. So I convinced Ignis to hold a moment, to you know, make sure the Nevermore wasn't still around waiting for some foolish hunter to just walk out alone."

"So were surveying the skies and stuff when Kemos and Velvet…" she nodded over to the two, Kemos was still calming eating his meal while the girl beside him had her head in her arms fast asleep. "Those two pop out of nowhere and surprise us. Ignis here was just about to go walking out when Kemos stopped him. Turns out there were three packs of Beowolves waiting in the tree line behind the temple."

"Wait a damn minute, you mean to tell me you four took down three packs of Beowolves in open combat, I'm calling bull." Yang folded her arms completing the image of self-assured disbelief.

Yumi grinned at her words. "I never said it was open combat. And besides, you guys took out a Nevermore, an A-class Grimm, yet you think we couldn't take out a few B-classes."

"A Nevermore, while more powerful and larger, it's still only a single Grimm, with a Nevermore you don't have to worry about being attacked from multiple sides. Take Ruby and Weiss's fight. They couldn't even take out a single Beowolf; you mean to tell me you guys took out more eighteen Beowolves."

"Well, we had a kill box"

Ruby looked at Yumi with a surprised look. "A kill box? Where did you get a box big enough to fit them all in?"

"She doesn't mean an actual box, you dolt! She means they got the Grimm into an enclosed space they couldn't escape from and attacked them from there." Weiss seemed to take special pleasure in correcting the younger girl.

"That's basically it, Ignis and Velvet set themselves up in a small canyon while Kemos led them in there. Velvet then trapped them in and then they just started firing down at them from the Cliffside. The Grimm couldn't get them from below so they died without a chance to fight back."

Yang laughed at her words. "That's not a fair fight in the least; you got to get up close and personal a proper fight."

Ignis gave Yang a steady gaze before he spoke, "How a victory is achieved doesn't matter, all that matters, is the results. Your method would merely put your subordinates in unnecessary risk that could easily lead to their deaths. Kemos's plan on the other hand won us the battle without a single injury."

Ignis seemed to take special offence at the perceived insult against his new leader. The respect to authority seemed to be heavily ingrained into his character.

Yang seemed unconvinced.

Ruby on the other hand wanted to the story to continue, "So what happened next."

"Well with the Grimm dead we just got our relics and left."

"Well we've heard your stories so it's time to tell Team RWBY's story." Ruby jumped up with pride as she spoke the name of her new team.

"So after JNPR had engaged the Deathstalker we were left with the Nevermore. It had made a pass at us and we tried to take it out at range but our moves had no effect. The Grimm crashed through the tower we were standing on and forced us to climb the falling debris up to an upper level where I came up with a plan to take out the creature."

"First I had Weiss freeze the Nevermore's tail to the cliff side and then Blake and Yang formed a slingshot using Blake's Gambol Shroud. Using that slingshot Weiss launched me to the Grimm where using the assistance of more of Weiss's Glyphs I ran up the side of the cliff carrying the Nevermore up by its neck until I reached the top where I decapitated the creature."

Yumi raised an eyebrow at her story, "You make it sound so simple."

Yang "Well, it was definitely something."

Weiss spoke up as she looked to a clock, "We should probably be leaving soon, we still have to find our dorm room and we have class at 9:00 tomorrow."

"Oh don't be such a party pooper, snow angel" Weiss bristled at Yang's words.

"Don't call me that! If you won't come with I'll just find it myself!"

"Hey Weiss! Wait!" Ruby jumped up from her seat to chase the white haired girl.

Blake briefly looked up from the book she had her nose stuck in before speaking to Yang. "You shouldn't agitate her like that."

"She'll get over it… well I guess if they're leaving we might as well. See you guys later. You coming Blake?"

Blake responded without a word rather she stood, her book never leaving its place in front of her face, as she moved to follow her partner.

Team JNPR watched them go before Jaune said with a yawn. "I think we should hit the hay as well, all though I'm hoping Nora will run out of juice by then."

Ren on the other hand had a different answer. "Not likely"

Jaune frowned at the answer in disappointment but none the less he led Team JNPR from the cafeteria.

With team RWBY and JNPR gone the four of them were now alone at their table, around them most of the students, at least the first year students, had already left. It just left Kemos, Yumi, and the sleeping Velvet at the table with Ignis back in line to grab more food.

Yumi sighed resting her head on her arms and closing her eyes, "Today's been an eventful day hasn't it?

Kemos nodded at her, but realized too late that with her eyes closed she couldn't see him.

With Yumi about to fall asleep and Velvet already asleep it was time for them to find their dorm.

Kemos placed a hand on the sleeping girl beside him shaking her awake.

Opening her eyes sleepily she mumbled to the teenagers around her. "Hm… did I fall asleep? I'm sorry guys I guess I'm just tired."

Kemos nodded in understanding.

"No problem Velvet, you're not the only one who almost fell asleep."

"It's really not that late Yumi." Unlike the other three Ignis was still shoveling food down his gullet.

"Well we've had a very long day so I think being tired is understandable."

Velvet stood up stretching her arms in the air. "Ok. I'm up. Where to now?"

_The dorm room._

Kemos stood up to join the two girls but Ignis seemed almost hurt by their actions.

"But I'm still eating?" The boy whined as he looked longingly at his third helping.

Yumi sighed as she stared at the downtrodden boy in front of her. "Just take it with you."

Ignis stood, carrying his plate as he followed the other three, with a much happier expression on his face.

* * *

They walked through the dimly lit hallway as they searched for their room.

Yumi looked to her leader curiously, "So what was our room number again?"

Her scroll beeped as he sent her his response.

_The dorm number should be three-zero-three._

Yumi looked to the side noticing the placard for room three-zero-one. "Looks like it should be the next one on the right. We just passed three-zero-one."

The team now stood in front of a door and indeed the placard said three-zero-three. Stepping forward Kemos grabbed the doorknob and twisted it… but the door refused to budge.

Ignis tapped his foot impatiently as he waited, "You gonna open the door or not, oh benevolent leader?"

Kemos turned to the boy as he sarcastically pointed at the doorknob, inviting him to open door.

"Um… guys?" Velvet nervously stepped forward as she tried to get their attention

"Well if you're too lazy I'll just do it myself." Stepping forward Ignis grabbed the doorknob and twisted… and again the refused to budge.

"Hey… guys?" Velvet once again attempted to garner their attention.

"What the hell, how do they expect us to get in the dorm if they don't give us a key, or at the very least leave it unlocked."

"Guys…" Velvet on again attempted to get their attention but was interrupted by a yelling Yumi.

"Oi! Guys!" Kemos and Ignis turned to Yumi, waiting for her to explain her outburst.

Nodding to Velvet, "Velvets got something to say."

Looking down in her nervousness, "In the orientation material we were given earlier it said that the scrolls we were given will unlock our dorm rooms."

Kemos stood quietly for a sec contemplating this response as he realized that the orientation had in fact mentioned such a thing; he had merely forgotten it, and made himself look like a fool in the progress.

Extracting the scroll from his pocket he tapped it against the placard which was shortly followed by a click as the door became unlocked. Grasping the doorknob he turned it and entered the room.

The dorm room was relatively empty. There were four beds, two on each side of a large window that was centered in the wall across from the door. There was an empty bookcase below the window with a small pile of luggage piled in front of it.

To the left there was an opened door that led to a bathroom, where as to the right there was an opened door that led to what looked like a large closet which contained a number of school uniforms, four men's and four women's.

Against the wall across from the beds were four writing desks with a set of three shelves above them. The room was, reasonably, quite spartan. Everything was there that they would need for the coming years but it all lacked any character.

Stepping into the room after Kemos Yumi looked around their simple dwelling. "Well this room's boring. Were gonna have to spice it up a little."

Velvet nodded enthusiastically, obviously agreeing with the girl.

"So how are we going to handle beds? By gender or by partners?" Yumi asked matter-of-factly, although Ignis seemed to take it more seriously.

"Partners!" he yelled quite suddenly. Realizing his embarrassing outburst he blushed before quietly reiterating his response. "I mean… I would prefer if we did by partners."

Kemos was surprised by Ignis's outburst but couldn't help but notice the strange looks he saw Ignis giving Velvet.

"Wow, Ignis. Didn't know you liked me so much?"

Ignis's blush redoubled its effort as his face turned an even darker red as he stumbled out a response. "No… I ah, just meant that pairing up with our partners will allow us to form a closer bond, make it easier to work with and… ah… stuff."

Ignis trailed off as he lost content to back up his assertion.

"Well I don't mind. What about you two?" she turned to the other two members of her team.

Kemos shrugged non-committedly while Velvet mumbled something the others couldn't hear but sounded like her approval or at the very least not her dissatisfaction.

"Well then it's settled I get the inner bed on the left then; Ignis, you can have the one next to the bathroom. What about you two?"

"Wait!" Velvet stamped her foot against the floor, finally finding her voice. "What about privacy and such. Like what about when we all have to change clothes and such."

_We're a new team now, privacy isn't exactly our priority, and we should be more so focused on getting to know each other, understanding each other than setting up boundaries._

Yumi slid up next to Kemos and threw and arm over his shoulders, teasing him. "Sounds like you just want to see us girls naked."

_Forgive me if I choose to act with the maturity of an adult rather than that of a sexually repressed teenager._

He sighed foreseeing a coming defeat before typing out another message.

_But if it is that big of deal for you then you could always use the bathroom to change._

"I guess so"

Nodding in response Kemos then walked forward to the pile of luggage before picking up his bag and setting it down on the inner bed, claiming it as his own.

"Guess that leaves the bed near the closet for me then." She walked forward to the pile of luggage to grab her things.

It soon became apparent that the majority of the luggage in the room was actually Velvet's, where with the other three they had only a single bag each, whereas Velvet had three large bags.

Yumi, having already finished her unpacking, approached Velvet. "So Velvet?"

Velvet exited the closet where she had been hanging her clothes. "Yes, Yumi?"

"I was just wondering why you have so much luggage? It just seems like a lot compared to the rest of us."

"Well, it's really not that much to tell the truth. I got one bag for the clothes I brought, a bag of my favorite books along with those cookbooks my parents insist I read, and a final bag for everything else I need.

The mention of books caught Kemos's attention as he rose from the bed he was laying on approaching the open bag full of books. Signaling to Velvet he pointed to the books before pointing to the bookcase.

"Put the books in the bookcase? Yeah that would be great Kemos." She smiled as she thanked him. Kemos gathered up the books before taking them over to the bookcase. He began inspecting each one for its contents before placing them on the shelf.

There were a number of books on Glyph manipulation along with a few on the use of Dust, there were also a number of fictional books primarily categorized in the fantasy section but he was most surprise by the number of cookbooks the girl had brought with her.

The majority of said books dealt with baking but they were a surprising amount of books about basic cooking practices. Picking up one of the baking books he got her attention before pointing at it questioningly.

She sighed before answering, "Yeah, my parents want me to take over my family's bakery after I eventually retire from Hunting. But the only problem is I'm a terrible cook and an even worse baker. I nearly burned down the bakery once! I swear they just won't get the message that I can't cook."

"Well there is the kitchen in the common room but they have a cafeteria for a reason." Yumi laid back against her bed as she spoke.

"Hey Kemos, I have a question." Velvet sad down on her bed as Kemos turned to her.

"I was wondering if you could explain more about your semblance and your aura. You said you would once we got done with initiation."

Yumi turned over on her bed to face the two. "Hey is something wrong, because you sound a bit worried?"

Kemos extracted his scroll from his pocket and began to type out a response.

_Back in the forest I promised Velvet that I would explain my condition and my semblance once we were safe._

Yumi looked confused "You have a problem with your aura? Does this have something do with your injury from before?"

_Yes it does. Suffice to say my aura isn't like what a normal Hunter has. My aura can't be used to shield myself. That was the reason Professor Port gave me a parachute before we were launched into the Emerald Forest. And that is also why I was so badly injured upon landing and was unable to heal myself using aura like you guys._

_I have medicinal herbs but those pale in comparison to aura, healing Glyphs, or healing Dust. I can't use two of those and the others too expensive for my budget so I'm left with the weaker herbs for medicine._

"I gathered that from when I was treating your wound, I'm more interested in that semblance of yours."

_For those who don't know my Semblance is Illusions. I can create images in the minds of others. It's not like a trick of the light kind of thing to make my illusions. I have to actively enter another's mind and place the image into it. It's easiest with other people like Humans or Faunus, harder when it comes to animals but it's near impossible when it comes to a Grimm._

_The reason for that is that the Grimm's mind is so different from our own that I can't make heads or tails of it. I'd like to think if I trained hard enough I might be able to enter others' minds easier but even if I could my illusions take a lot out of me. Back in the forest I made in illusion of a small leaf floating in my hand and it took a lot of my aura reserves out of me._

Getting Kemos's attention Ignis spoke. "Wow, Kemos. You're like the complete opposite of me. My semblance basically allows me to enhance the natural abilities of my aura. My shields are stronger so they're near impenetrable and I can heal faster as well, and that's just to name a few. It's actually a trait I inherited from my Mother from her side of the family."

Velvet turned to Kemos with a worried look on her face. "Yeah, but if you can't use an aura shield you could die, how can we in good conscious send you out there against those monsters if you could…"

She stopped as Kemos silenced her with a hand in the air.

_I want to make one thing perfectly clear. Under no circumstances are you to treat me as some fragile doll that could break at any moment. We are Hunters. Any one of use may die in the line of duty. And might I remind you that I am here on scholarship, they know of my condition and still approved of me._

Yumi quieted as she read his words unsure of how to respond. "I… It's just… I don't want to lose you. It's been a long time since I've had a friend."

Kemos gave her a reassuring look.

_I don't plan on going anywhere._

Yumi had a sad look on her face but it quickly turned back into her normal grin. "So we know everyone else's semblance so now I guess it's my turn to tell. Well it's simple. I don't have a semblance… or at least one that I have yet to find."

"Well it's nothing to be ashamed of Yumi, I may have learned my affinity for Glyphs early on but many Hunters enter this school without the knowledge of what their semblance is. In fact, besides the weapons specialization classes there are a few classes for students who aren't up to snuff in certain categories. Kemos, didn't you say you're taking the basic Aura Control class.

Kemos nodded in response.

_Yeah, it's scheduled during our normal lunch hour so I won't be able to eat with everyone most days._

"See, it's similar. Although since I only use Glyphs my weapons specialization class has been removed in favor of more advance Glyph instructions."

"So you're like the Ice Queen right"

"Excuse me?"

"Miss Schnee, her fighting style is similar to yours correct?"

"Not exactly, she uses both Dust along with her fencing sword along with her Glyphs. I would say my style would be more similar to Professor Goodwitch's; she uses only Glyphs and uses her riding crop as a conduit similar to how I use my gloves."

"Ah, I didn't actually see you fight during the Initiation so wasn't quite sure."

Sitting up from his bed Ignis spoke, "You know we should probably be getting to bed guys. We have to get up early if we want to have enough time for breakfast and such before our first class."

"Oh you're no fun partner. Don't you want to know the rest of the team's backstory? For example I come from a small Frontier town built near the old Kearis Castle that fell during the first Great Surge. Our settlement is actually said to have been built on top of the former location of an old township under the rule of an old monarchy from Kearis."

Looking defeated Ignis responded to his partner, "If I answer will you let me sleep."

"Fine" Yumi said with a pouting look.

"I'm from the port city of Saxon. My family is of the famous Dorskey line of Dorskey Weapon. Our family has the second largest military contract with the Vale government in all of Vale and its territories only dwarfed by Winchester Aeronautics. Since birth I have been raised to serve my family in its endeavors in whatever they may be. I am training to become a hunter so that I may be able to protect my family from all its enemies. Now may I go to sleep now?"

"Well I guess, but I've never heard of Dorskey Weapons before."

Ignis looked shocked at this revelation. "You've never heard… What about the rest of you guys?"

Kemos shook his head while Velvet did the same.

"How can you not know? Dorskey Weapons was the single largest weapons producer of small arms during the Faunus Wars, In fact it could be said that if my families company hadn't been so effective in the design and creation of our product us humans would have lost the war in the first year of the war. If it wasn't for the incompetence of General Lagune and his failure at Fort Castle we would have pushed those filthy animals back into Menagerie.

The others were shocked at his words, completely speechless. The issue wasn't the revelation of this history but in fact the underlining motives of his words. Kemos couldn't speak for Yumi or Velvet but he had heard a great deal of similar words back in his hometown. Many there didn't take kindly to when the Faunus forced a stalemate against the Humans. Many of the people there saw the Faunus as lesser beings.

Ignis turned towards the wall and laid his head down obviously ending the conversation where it was. Yumi watched her partner for a few minutes, even after Kemos had turned off the lights, before she turned away from him and then she let her head fall slowly to her pillow


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone, I'm finally back. The past month has been incredibly hectic, so many projects and papers I've had to do. But finals are finally over so I can get back to hopefully a weekly schedule. So without further ado, the story.**

**__****Italics – indicates written words**

Kemos ran through the darkness, the only sounds to be heard were his labored breathing and the clicking of the soles of his feet making contact with the cobblestones of the walkway. In the darkness what little light that could be seen came from the small lights dotting the walkway while on the horizon there was but a slight haze to indicate the coming light. But the sun would not be rising for at least an hour ensuring that Kemos had to trust the placement of the lights to prevent him from leaving the path.

It had only been a few hours since he and his team had finally fallen asleep but his body naturally woke him at this early hour. He was already a light sleeper from when he lived in Manning but his time spent with Professor Port had changed him even more. The older man had insisted on Kemos joining him on his early morning runs. When he first started he resented the Professor for the unwanted exercise, the boy had rather wanted to sleep in his new found safety. But the man had persisted and Kemos relented to the point where he now enjoyed these runs.

His training along with a proper diet from Professor Port had allowed him to fill out from his once scrawny self and to the fit body he had today. And now that he wasn't constantly out of breath from the long runs he came to enjoy them. His favorite part was silence and the darkness, together he was free from the distractions of everyday life, he was able to enjoy the steady rhythmic movement of his legs against the pavement, the burning in his lungs, and the time it gave him to think. But that was the problem.

The actions of the previous day weighed heavy on his heart. Ignis' beliefs, while not uncommon, could be detrimental to the team's dynamics. If Ignis couldn't work with Velvet then that would mean the team was doomed from the start. And not just him but if Velvet couldn't work with a man who thought she was beneath him… his musing ended as he thought he heard a sound behind him.

He was unsure of what the sound was coming from but by the way that it seemed to align with the sound of his own feet it seemed to imply it was another person. Someone who was trying to sneak up on him, but he wasn't sure if there was really someone there. Breaking his stride Kemos took a half step before regaining his full stride. It was brief but he could hear the person misstep, but it was quickly corrected to match Kemos' own within a second.

Kemos moved his hand to his side, reaching for one of his daggers resting there. Gripping the handle he could hear the person behind increasing their speed quickly closing in the distance between them. Kemos was about to draw his dagger and turn but stopped. As the man drew up beside him Kemos could feel a familiar presence beside him. The sound of the man's breath with the weight of the man's feet crashing against the pavement made it clear who it was.

"And here I thought I would be able to sneak up on you. Woe is the day that I was once able to pull one over on you young chaps." Professor Port whispered to the boy beside him, but with the night air his 'whisper' sounder more like a bellow.

Kemos briefly rolled his eyes at his mentor before giving him a nod of acknowledgement. It made him wonder sometimes how his mentor was able to see so well in the dark; sometimes he could swear that the older man had to be part Faunus.

They continued on for the next few minutes in silence. It was slowly approaching day light as the birds began to rise around them; their songs beginning to feel the sky as the sun started to rise over the horizon.

"Something's troubling you isn't it?" Port's statement startled the boy, he hadn't realized that the older man was able to read his emotions so easily; he had done his best to keep things personal, obviously failing.

He nodded to his mentor in agreement, but nonetheless continued on unperturbed.

"You can talk to me you know."

Again he nodded his acknowledgement but still did not stop to respond. His problems and his team's were their own, to involve the Professors or Administrators would prove a disservice to his team, especially if Ignis was just venting the day before. To accuse him without proper evidence or meaning would only serve to tear the team apart, or possibly put an innocent man in undue pain.

With a look of concern he nodded. "I can understand if you don't want discuss your personal problems, but do realize I'm here for you if you ever need me."

Kemos turned to his mentor, giving him a smile and a nod, doing his best to assure the older man that his kindness did not go unnoticed.

They continued to run together for a few minutes before Kemos sped ahead towards the school's dormitory giving a wave to his Professor in goodbye.

* * *

With a quick swipe of his Scroll he opened the door to his team's room. To his left Ignis was still snoring loudly under his sheets; the bed beside him messy but empty, the sounds of water from the bathroom indicating Yumi's location.

Back on the other side of the room his bed was still made well enough from when he left for his run. On the next bed lay Velvet, still in her bed clothes reading a book, her uniform lying on the bed near her feet.

Moving her book to the side she looked to see who entered the room. "Oh, hey Kemos. Me and Yumi were wondering where you went. I assume you went running?"

He looked at her with a puzzled look on his face not sure how she was able to guess that. If he was in her position he probably would have assumed he had gone for breakfast rather than waking his tired teammates. But his question was soon answered as the girl gave a slight point to his head with the book in her hand.

Kemos moved his hand to his head dabbing at his sweat damp hair. He raised his eyebrows in surprise; he had originally planned on a light run, not anything that would have caused noticeable changes.

"By the looks of it I'm guessing you're in need of a shower… but it's too bad because I have it next."

Kemos gave her a nod and a slight smile before sitting down at his desk chair. At the same time Velvet returned to her book as the two of them waited for Yumi to finish her time in the bathroom.

The shower stopped and a few minutes later Yumi exited the bathroom wearing her uniform.

"So, Kemos, Velvet. What do you think?" Yumi gave a slight spin to show off the uniform. "I've never really worn skirts before. Not really sure how I would like them."

Velvet gave her a smile as she stood up setting her book down on the bed. "It looks great on you Yumi. You should wear skirts more often."

Kemos nodded in agreement. Velvet didn't lie; Yumi looked surprisingly good in the skirt. He hadn't really expected it considering he had only seen her wearing pants so far, now there as plenty of skin for the world to see as she choose to forgo the uniforms stockings. But now that he remembered it he could say the same about Velvet.

She, like Yumi, wore pants into combat rather than the recent fad of wearing skirts into battle. 'Combat skirts' they called them. Those articles of clothing were more fashion statements than practical battle attire.

But this was not the time to be arguing the merits of clothing in combat, there were more pressing matters to get to. Catching his friend's attention he nodded over to the boy sleeping in the corner.

Looking back to Kemos, Yumi gave him a sarcastic look of surprise. "That guy's still asleep? Well if we want to get some grub before class we better waking him up now."

Walking over to her partner she leaned down grabbing his shoulder shaking him. "Ignis wake up, time to get some breakfast."

But the sleeping boy did not wake up or even respond to the girl. She looked at her partner for a moment unsure what to do but her face quickly changed as an evil grin graced her lips with a glint in her eyes.

Grabbing the comforter she pulled back exposing his shirtless body. She paused momentarily at the sight of a long jagged scar that snaked from the bottom of his neck down his chest and off onto his right side. But her hesitance disappeared as she went about her task with a smirk. Kemos had almost expected Ignis to curl up for warmth or weakly attempt to get back the warm cloth but instead he lay there on his back as if nothing had changed, and that seemed like what Yumi had hoped for.

The girl turned away from her partner then jumped back. Landing directly onto his stomach.

Ignis shot up with a pained groan grabbing at his chest and stomach searching for the object causing him such pain. He had moved so fast the girl on top of him practically flew off of him with but a small squeak of surprise.

"Owwwww, what the… what did you guys do." He looked over to his two teammates through tear blurred eyes, one on the floor with a grin on her face the other sitting at his desk with his shoulders shaking with silent laughter.

Yumi stood up smoothing out her skirt as she did, grinning at her teammate. "Just waking you up."

Ignis looked at her with a look of annoyed anger. "Didn't feel like just waking me up."

"Then maybe you should wake up on time." Yumi responded as Ignis grumbled as he stood.

"Well this looks interesting." Velvet exited the bathroom, now fully garbed in her uniform, her having chosen to wear the regulation stockings rather than going bare skin. "You're up Kemos."

Kemos nodded as he stood approaching the bathroom.

Ignis quickly stood with a look of panic on his face moving towards the bathroom himself. "Hey wait a minute I have to use the bathroom."

Velvet moved in front of him intercepting him with a hand against his chest. "If you wanted to use the bathroom you should have woken up when we first tried over twenty minutes ago.

* * *

Entering the classroom Yumi shot forwad racing to the back of the room. The rest of the team slowly followed their more energetic teammate.

The classroom was near empty, only three other students were seated before them and only a trickle followed.

"So... Does anyone know what this professor is going to be like?" Velvet sat downin the aisle seat while Kemos sat in between her and Yumi, with Ignis following.

"Kemos knows, apparently they know each other." Leaning back in her chair Yumi placed her feet up on the desk.

Ignis leaned forward against the desk with a questioning look as he spoke over to Kemos. "How do you already know a Professor? We only got here two days ago and we haven't really had the time to meet anyone."

Kemos shrugged and began to move his hand to his scroll before a crash rang out from the front of the class as Weiss, followed shortly by the seven other members of team RWBY and JNPR, ran through the doorway with the door itself crashing against the wall loudly.

"We're… not late… are we Professor?" Jaune inquired to Professor Port as he attempted to catch his breath.

"No my dear Boy, In fact you just made on time. Now get into your seats, I have a rousing tale to tell you all." Port thrust his chest out as he boasted for his coming lecture.

Feeling an elbow nudge against his side Kemos turned to Yumi who had a somewhat annoyed look on her face.

"Can you believe that girl? She gets into Beacon two years early and she thinks she can just blatantly disregard the dress code with her cape."

Kemos shrugged in indifference unable to ascertain the reason for the girl's sudden hostility. He was about to question her further but was interrupted by the Professor below clearing his throat.

"Monsters, demons, prowlers of the night. Yes the creatures of Grimm have many names. But I merely refer to them as prey. Ha ha..." He laughed at his own little joke but the students around didn't seem to share in his humor. The silence was so deafening crickets could almost be heard.

"Uhhh… and you shall too upon graduating from this prestigious academy. As I was saying Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world. Our planet is absolutely teaming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces. And that's where we come in, Huntsmen… Huntresses." He gave a wink to the girl in front of him of which Yang seemed to take the good Professor's joke a little too seriously as she nervously backed away in disgust.

"Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves. From what you ask? Why… the very world." Giving a short pause before continuing. "That is what you are training to become. But first a story. A tale of a young and handsome man… Me! When I was a boy…"

Once again feeling a nudge Kemos turned to the girl beside him.

"Bit of a braggart isn't he." Yumi said with an expectant eyebrow raised.

Kemos could only nod in agreement at her accurate description of the man. He turned back to the Professor.

"Despite smelling of cabbages my grandfather was a wise man, Peter, he told me…."

He stopped suddenly and coughed into his fist getting the attention of Yang who was laughing quite loudly at something her sister had done, much to the embarrassment of the white haired girl beside her.

With the classes attention now back to him he continued his story. "In the end the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity. And I returned to my village with beast in captivity and my head held high. Celebrated, as a hero." He gave a short bow to his students

"The moral of this story, a true Huntsman must be honorable; a true huntsman must be dependable. A true huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise. So… who among you believes themselves to be embodiment of these traits?

Weiss exploded up from her seat, the chair knocking backwards and falling to the floor. "I do sir!"

"Well than… Let's find out. Step forward and face your opponent." The professor gestured to the cage in the corner of the classroom which now began to shake as the man's hand grew nearer.

"May I leave to get my field gear sir?"

"That will not be necessary. The school's rail system for the students equipment goes into each classroom. I will call up your locker, there is a small room in the back as well if you wish for some privacy."

"Thank you Professor." Moving from her seat Weiss walked up the stairs to the back of the classroom where her equipment locker appeared emerging from the floor.

Quickly opening the locker she grabbed her gear before heading into the small office for some privacy.

Returning shortly Weiss stood before the class; her weapon rose to challenge the soon to be uncaged creature.

Her teammates still in their seats voiced words of encouragement.

"GO Weiss!" Yang threw her hands up into the air as she yelled to her teammate. The blonde girl's partner was more so quiet with her words and had been somehow able to acquire a small flag with their team name inscribed on it which she was now waving around "Fight well."

Their young leader on the other hand was quite loud in voicing her encouragement. "Yeah! Represent Team RWBY!"

Weiss seemed to take offence at these last words as she chastisedd her leader. "Ruby! I am trying to focus!"

The young girl in red shrank back in discouragement as she quietly apologized. "Oh… I'm sorry."

Professor Port stepped forward clearing his throat to gain the angered girl's attention. "All right. Let the match… Begin!"

Raising his blunderbuss by the barrel he brought down the axe end against the cages lock easily breaking through.

From the dark cage emerged a Boarbatusk, a young one at that considering its plate structure. It charged the young girl in front of it who side stepped the creature slashing at its side as it passed.

The Grimm turned unaffected by the slash and paused as if considering its options. The professor decided to use this time to voice his own opinion.

"Ha ha… wasn't expecting that were you"

Ruby as well choose this moment to voice her own words of encouragement.

"Hang in there Weiss!"

Producing a Glyph below her Weiss glided forward towards the charging the beast but at the last moment the Boarbatuck twisted its head catching the girl's blade in between its tusks throwing her above it.

Regaining her footing Weiss fought with the creature in an attempt to free her entrapped weapon.

"Bold new approach… I like it." Port words did little to help the girl.

Ruby once again voiced her encouragement much to the annoyance to the embattled girl. Her words distracted the girl giving the Grimm the chance to wrest the blade from the girls grasp throwing Myrtenastar across the room away from Weiss. Now defenseless the beast thrust its head forward knocking the girl to the ground.

"Now what will you do without your weapon?"

The Boarbatusk charged Weiss, the girl barely managed to roll to the side to avoid the quickly approaching beast. With no person to end its charge the creature ran into the desks, the students at the impact point jumping back in surprise.

With the beast momentarily stunned, Weiss used this time to run across the room to retrieve her weapon.

Attempting to grab her subordinate's attention Ruby cupped her hands around her mouth. "Weiss! Go for its belly, there's no armor undernea…"

But the girls words were cut off as the girl in white yelled at her leader in anger. "Stop telling me what to do!"

Once again the young leader shrank back in her seat.

Failing to attack the Grimm and choosing to instead to argue with her leader the Grimm stood and once again went on the offensive. The beast jumped up curling into a ball rapidly spinning forward towards its opponent.

Producing a Glyph in front of her she shielded herself from the oncoming blow, the sheer force of the impact stopping the Boarbatusk's charge and forcing the girl back. Weiss, using the momentum of the blow, jumped up and produced another Glyph above her to stop her motion and then accelerate herself downwards striking and piercing the Boarbatusk's exposed and defenseless belly.

"Bravo! Bravo! It appears we are in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training. I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings. And… stay vigilante. Class dismissed."

With his last words Weiss walked out of the classroom without another word, not even bothering to change back into her uniform. Ruby quickly leapt up to chase the girl.

Yumi leaned back in her chair flabbergasted at the scene that took place before them. "Wow… I knew from the stories yesterday that they had some problems working together but damn, the Ice Queen is a bitch!"

"Yumi! You shouldn't talk like that." Velvet collected her notes as she chastised her teammate's words.

"Why not? Those two are the most immature people I have ever seen. I can partially understand Ruby's behavior given her age but none of that can be said the same for the Ice Queen. She has both the age and the upbringing that should imply at least a modicum of proper behavior. At least the other two are normal… ish."

Ignis grunted in disagreement as he joined the rest of the team walking down the stairs. "I wouldn't be so sure."

"What do you mean Ignis?" Velvet spoke up in curiosity upon hearing his words.

Ignis shook his head in response. "I'll tell you guys later. First we got to get to our next class. What do we have next anyways?"

Kemos passed his scroll over to Yumi.

Looking at the device Yumi read out the information. "Looks like Kemos and Velvet have Basic Dust Usage next while you and I have Advance Dust Usage. After that Kemos has Basic Aura Control while the three of us have lunch."

"We're not eating with Kemos?" Velvet looked over Yumi's shoulder to see the screen.

"We'll just meet up afterwards; we got another class right after lunch so we can just pick something up for him later. That okay Kemos?"

Kemos shrugged in acceptance as he joined Velvet as they walked to their next class.

* * *

It was ten minutes into the class and the teacher had still yet to arrive. The students had long since lost their patience and were loudly chatting amongst themselves.

Kemos was leaning back in his seat, his eyes closed with his legs propped up on top of the desk. Beside him Velvet sat quietly reading one of her fantasy novels.

Kemos was just about to nod off when a voice rang out drawing him from his slumber.

Below a woman had entered the room. She looked to be in her late twenties, young for a Professor at Beacon but not unheard of for talented individuals. She had short dark blue hair almost black in color with a blue and white bow on the right side of her hair, of which the longest strands in the back barely reached the base of her neck. She was wearing a simple white sun dress incredibly casual for a Professor but given the state she arrived in Kemos guessed that she had only just recently woken up.

"My name is Professor Seshi Davis and this is the class on Basic Usage of Dust. This course will focus on Dust in both its crystalline form and its more powerful powdered form. Today we will be discussing the basic history and origin of Dust. The usage of such will be explored further later in the week."

"First I would like to discuss the views that the Holy Trinity holds towards the discovery of dust and the parallels we can use to infer the origins of Dust. Over six hundred years ago back when we were only small villiages reliant on castles for protection from the darkness we fought a losing battle. The Grimm were a powerful and destructive force that we were unable to defeat with only our weapons and Aura. But it was during the second year of what has become known as the First Great Surge that the dicovery of Dust was made which turned the tide of not only that war but of civilization itself. The teachings of the Holy Trinity tells us that Dust was granted onto man during the First Great Surge by Shaw. But in reality..."

She stopped as she noticed that Kemos had raised his hand. "Do you have a question Mr.?"

Passing his scroll to Velvet she answered for him. "His name is Kemos Shepard ma'am and he asks, what are the Holy Trinity and Shaw?"

The teacher and the young girl herself looked equally surprised as the she read off the question. With The Holy Trinity and its offshoots being the dominant religions in Vale it was unheard of that someone would have no knowledge of even its basic teachings.

"Well Mr. Shepard for the sake of time I can't get really in depth but the basic are such that the Holy Trinity Refers to the three creator Gods; Oum, Luna, and Shaw. Oum having created Remnant, Luna creating humanity, and Shaw creating Civilization specifically through the introduction of Dust. But if you are interested into further analysis on the religions and philosophies of Remnant there is an elective that still has open spots available this semester that you can take.

Kemos nodded having had his question answered, the teacher continued her lecture.

"Now as I was saying, the religious texts say that Dust was placed on this world by Shaw but the actual discovery of Dust is credited to Nathaniel Turgen, a Nobleman of Vale. This man had the largest mines in all of Vale, the wealth from these mines is what awarded him the status of nobility. Although due to the level of technology and man power of the time the mines were small in comparison to that of say the modern day Schnee corporation mines. Now, Nathaniel Turgen shared the secrets of Dust, taught to him by Shaw, with the rest of the world enabling Humanity to end the First Great Surge allowing civilization to flourish. Now you should all recognize the name Turgen. It would be Nathaniel's grandson Rodric who would unite Vale once again under a single King during the Unification War after Alexander Vale died without an heir."

"History lesson aside, the important thing is we now know how to use dust and furthermore we have and are using dust to make great progress in the development of technology. Dust as the most widely used energy propellant being used to power our personal vehicles, boats, trains, air ships, etc."

"Now that's all we have time for today. I apologize for coming in so late and causing the class to be so short. I promise it won't happen , you can pick up the syllabus on my desk, be sure to do the readings for the next time we meet. You're dismissed."

With those words Kemos and Velvet stood and made their way out of the classroom.

"I guess I'll see you after lunch then. I'll pick you something up to eat before the combat lessons with Goodwitch."

Kemos nodded to his partner as he walked off in the opposite direction.

* * *

Kemos was seated in one of the middle rows closer to the front of the classroom. Jaune sat beside him with his head stuck in the assigned texts attempting to absorb as much information he could. Leaning against the desk Kemos waited as more students slowly entered the classroom. The clock was just about to hit Eleven o'clock and the Professor had yet to arrive. The students around him were taking advantage of the absence chatting with those around them.

A sharp click interrupted the chatting as Headmaster Ozpin quietly entered the room sipping from a coffee cup in his hand.

"Good morning class, as you know I'm Headmaster Ozpin but during the duration of this class you will simply refer to me as Professor Ozpin. Now, this class is Basic Aura Control, if you aren't here for that I suggest you leave now."

A few students stood and left but it seemed more like they were visiting their teammates rather than they had the incorrect room.

"Now that that's out of the way, I can start with the basic description of the course. The purpose of this course is to train students who cannot fully utilize there Aura. Prior to arriving to Beacon you should have all had your Aura's unlocked... Is there anyone here who has not?"

The classroom responded with silence. Ozpin had a small smile as he sipped his coffee.

"Good, it is pretty much a given that it would be already done, but it's always safer to just check oneself. We wouldn't want to lose a student to something as trivial as an inactivated Aura."

"Now can anyone tell me what Aura is? You miss?"

"Rebecca Vintou, sir."

He nodded to the girl, "Go on Miss Vintou."

"Aura is the manifestation of our souls. It bares our burdens and shields our hearts. It is one of the gifts granted to us by the Trinity that protects us from the creatures of Grimm, which, have no Aura. The manifestation of enmity. They are the darkness, we are the light. Our understanding of this difference allows us to control it." The girl continued

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death."

Stepping forward as the girl stopped her explanation Ozpin began speaking.

"Very good Miss Vintou. However that is more of the spiritual explanation rather than the technical or in this case biological. Furthermore the first part of your explanation was fine the second part was less so. That little speech has since gone out of style in Vale due to its use in the initiation rites of followers of the Temple of the Holy Trinity, which was banned by the Valearian Monarchy and the Holy Trinity following the war with the Faunus. I can understand that foreign students may not know these things given that the Templars were never very active outside of Vale. Even more so considering that all of you had yet to have even been born when the organization was banned."

"Now to get back on track while the exact cause of Aura and by extension Semblances are not yet known recent studies and new technologies are furthering our understanding of these abilities. Does anyone know some of the theories?

No response.

"Don't worry if you don't know the answer. These are relatively new theories and many lack the evidence to be called a proper Scientific Theory. For example the theory by Charles Lugur states that are these tiny creatures that could be described as microorganisms that provide the energy that Aura provides. Sadly his theory does not provide an explanation for many of the Semblances that are present on Remnant."

"Another one is Cassidy Wright's theory. It is her belief that the appendix, which we currently do not know what it does or may have done in the past but it is her belief that the appendix is the source or catalyst through which we use Aura. In her theory the appendix is the center of Aura abilities similar to how the heart is the center of the circulatory system or the brain directs the body (nervous system?). Though the appendix the body takes the energy from throughout the body allowing the mind to use that energy for actions such as shielding or the use of semblances.

Now the problem that lies with all these theories' is issues dealing with testing them. As Miss Vintou mentioned Aura has been called a manifestation of our soul. The reason why it has been called that is that as soon as the body dies our Aura vanishes. So our ancestors understandably took that as a sign that the soul has left the body for which the association now comes from.

Now this linkage of the soul to Aura can be seen thought the world. For example in two most prominent religions in Vale, the Holy Trinity and its offshoot the Cult of the White Wolf believe in such a connection. While at the same time the ancestral worship in Vacou has strikingly similar beliefs.

So to make it simple while we do not know the direct cause of Aura that doesn't mean we can't utilize it for our advantage. We have been using Aura for hundreds of years and we will continue to do so for years to come and I fully believe that I will be able to teach you to use your Aura to your fullest abilities."

He stole a quick glance to the clock on the wall.

"Seeing that class is almost over and I have finished the lecture for the day I see no reason to keep you longer. You are all dismissed but do remember to finish the assigned readings from the syllabus. We will be starting practical studies this week and its best if you have some basic knowledge before we start."

As he finished speaking the students around Kemos stood and began to descend the stairs chatting excitedly as they exited the room. Ozpin on the other hand sat at the desk and began to rummage through the drawers looking for something.

Seeing his chance to finally talk to Ozpin about his selection as team leader he approached the desk than stood still waiting patiently for the Headmaster to see him.

Catching a glimpse of Kemos out of the corner of his eye Ozpin closed the drawer he was inspecting and sat up straight reaching for his coffee.

"Is there something I can help you with Mister Shepard." Ozpin asked as he took a sip from his mug.

"_Why am I the leader?_"

Ozpin once again calmly sipped his coffee before answering as if contemplating his response. "Because you were the best fit for the job."

Kemos looked at the Headmaster with a look of annoyance folding his arms across his chest and letting his silence propose his next question.

"I can see that you are worried about your ability to speak."

Kemos nodded in response as the Professor continued to speak.

"As I said you were the best fi…."

Kemos slammed his hands onto the desk in anger. Kemos wasn't a fool, his plan back in the forest may have been sound but if anything had gone wrong he wouldn't have been able to communicate with his team. Everything could have gone south in a matter of moments and he wouldn't be able to communicate with them, let alone lead them.

Ozpin slowly and deliberately set his mug down before reaching for his cane and standing up. The Headmaster towered over the teenager in front of him, staring at the boy with the air of superiority.

"I would suggest you rethink how you interact with me, boy. I realize you grew up on the streets without the care for authority but I shouldn't have to remind you that I am the Headmaster of Beacon and your Professor. I do not ask for your respect… I demand it."

Kemos leapt back from his position as he realized his mistake.

Ozpin coldly continued his words. "Simply put you were the least incompetent when it came to the three that you were paired up with. Miss Scarlatina while competent enough on the battlefield is too weak willed off of it. She lets her fears and emotions control her actions and would be unable to lead her team into battle. Never mind the decorum needed when attending official interactions with the Valearian government and military, or even the other nations for that matter. "

Ozpin paused briefly to catch his breath before once again speaking. "Dorskey is no better. He is rash, slow, and aggressive; simply, he could be called a brute. He is a man who would go guns blazing into a scenario even when there is an easier more diplomatic way of ending conflict. He would be more likely to lead his troops to their deaths than to their victory."

And as for your partner, Miss Satou. Her insistence on using only her ranged sniper rifle rather than a close or mid-range weapon, her insistence on not using a melee weapon at all, even as just a back up, makes her a liability to the team. In close quarter fighting, the majority of combat that Hunters will see, she is utterly useless. The only reason I let her into this school, or you for that matter, is because the both of you came with the recommendation of men that I trust. For the life of me I can't see what they saw in you but I will not change the teams. Beacon has decided the teams this way for decades and I have no plan on changing it."

"But for you. While you may not be able to speak… or lead for that matter. Your intelligence barely makes up for it all to allow you to plan out a course of action to bring out the abilities of your team. Furthermore you're the only one who I believe would be able to put the mission before the lives of his team. One thing few students realize upon enter this school is that we are here to protect the populace and to sacrifice ourselves if needed."

"Too many who attend this school come in with rose tinted glasses. They see only the Grimm as the enemy, they see nothing of the calamity that humanity is. For hundreds of years the Hunters and their spiritual ancestors have fought for humanity. We were not created to defeat the Grimm, for a standard army would do more to eliminate the Grimm than our Hunters would… No we exist so that we may ensure that humanity remains on the proper path, and all those that would seek to lead her down a path of destruction would be eliminated."

"We may be training you to kill Grimm but it is only the chosen few who are selected to follow the path of a true Hunter and become the guardian of humanity rather than the protector of man. Kemos, if anything, you were chosen not because you were the best, because the gods know you aren't, but because you have seen the underbelly of society, the darkness that lies within each man's heart."

Kemos stood in silence not sure how to respond to the Professor. He wasn't exactly happy with how the man was portraying him as someone who would abandon his friends and he didn't like how he was characterizing his teammates; even if some of it, or even most of it may be true. But this idea that the purpose of Hunters was different was surprising, more so that the Headmaster would choose to tell him such things. Saying the man was blunt would be an understatement.

"You'd best get to class Mister Shepard, you wouldn't want to be late"

Kemos was pulled from his thoughts and gave the Headmaster a polite nod before quickly leaving the room.

* * *

Ozpin exited the classroom but stopped as a familiar voice addressed him. He looked to his side to see Port leaning against the wall of the hallway.

"That was mighty harsh on the boy. Was it really necessary?" the older man wrinkled his mustache in annoyance and concern for the young man who left merely moments before.

The Headmaster sighed in response before speaking. "I believe it was necessary for the boy to grow. The team cannot continue on with these messed up ideals of fairness and justice and given the history of the Dorskey family issues will likely arise. He will need to be able to confront and overcome these problems if he wants to become even an average leveled Hunter or if he wants to even just keep his team alive."

Taking a step forward he continued. "He was and still is an outcast; he didn't know the comfort or trust of family or friends as he grew. And when he did have them they were quickly and violently stolen from him. These tragedies… this upbringing… give him a unique perspective to understand man's true face… a better understanding than any other new student here."

"Our world is cruel and violent; and I don't speak of the Grimm. There is an undercurrent in our vary nature that allows us to commit unspeakable terror." At these words Ozpin got a blank look in his eyes as if he was remember something truly terrible from his past.

Professor Port used this time to intervene; crossing his arms across his chest as he spoke. "I don't believe that is the best way to come about results."

"No, you'd rather throw your students into a pit filled with Grimm and hope they come out fine."

"Because I trust them enough to know they can get out fine." Port wanted to yell but for the sake of appearances he was forced down to a harsh whisper. "My methods work and while unorthodox they have produced a multitude of fantastic hunters."

"As have mine, Professor Port. As have mine."

Port was about to respond to Ozpins challenge but was stopped by his superior's cane loudly tapping against the hallway floor.

"I suggest you get moving Professor. You wouldn't want to be late for you own class." With those final words the Headmaster swiftly yet calmly turned his back to Port and walked away from him, leaving Port seething in anger. But he quickly stifled the emotions and left, he trusted the man enough that he refused to allow this disagreement to form a shaft between the two. He planned on seeing team KIVY graduating this school with the rest.

**And thus ends this weeks chapter. Next week will be covering the introduction to the combat class and history along with a number of other stuff. Till next week.**


End file.
